Gustavo Roque's Untitled Girl Group
by safetyisuniversal
Summary: The year is 2015. BTR's albums haven't been selling as well as they used to, and now corporate wants Gustavo to find a girl group and start cross promoting to sell more BTR albums. And part of this cross promotion? Having one of the boys "date" one of the girls. Sounds like Auden, Delia, Brooke and Callie might be some big time trouble for Gustavo and the boys.
1. Pilot

"Something needs to be done."

The year was 2015. Gustavo Roque sat in his office, being chastised by the new head of the record label, Karen Anderson. She was an uptight woman with an uptight bun on the top of her head and what Gustavo theorized was an endless supply of crisp white button up shirts. She was Griffin's replacement, after a huge corporate shakeup the year prior.

"The boys are still selling moderately well, but they've undeniably lost the fire," she continued to lecture. Previously, she'd been leaning forward, hands bracing the other side of his desk to snarl in his face. But now she moved, standing upright once more, arms crossed across her chest as she began a leisurely stroll around his office, glancing at the various awards strung from the walls. "We need to boost record sales or your pets will be dropped, Roque." She stopped her stroll to face the man once more, as she handed him a flyer. "And this is how marketing wants to do it."

"A girl group?!" he asked, eyebrows rising. "And just how will another group bring up the dog's sales?"

With a smirk, Karen yanked the flyer out of his hands. "Glad you asked. Cross promotion, Roque. We get the girls, their first single features the boys. Big Time Rush is suddenly seen as veterans of the pop music world in comparison and people start buying more albums. The exposure will be good for the girls, too, obviously. Teenage girls are going to be the target demographic for both groups, after all. Step two – one of your boys starts 'dating' one of the girls for more media attention. The boys are getting more coverage, their songs get more airplay, and we'll likely drop the girls after one medium faring album. Girl groups rarely sell like boy bands do." She concluded with a nod.

"So what?" Gustavo asked "I'm supposed to just stop everything I'm doing right now and do _another_ tour of US looking for a bunch of teen girls?"

"For the love of God, Roque, not teenagers!" she cried, slamming her hands back onto his desk. "The boys are in their twenties now, we can't have one of them fake date a 14 year old!" she released his desk once again, a hand moving to rest of her temple as she shook her head. "The flyer suggests age 18-25. But this isn't a suggestion. I'm your superior, and it's a direct order. If you don't find me a girl group, you lose your boys, and your job."

* * *

And that was how Kelly Wainwright found herself in a small theatre with Gustavo, once again starting the process that almost killed her just six years prior. They'd seen just over one hundred young women so far, and that was only today. Today they were in downtown Orlando, and it was only the second stop on their audition tour.

"Are you sure this is even going to work?" she questioned. "We went to all 50 states last time and we had trouble finding even one person with 'the fire', remember?"

"We don't have a choice!" he cried, causing Kelly to flinch. He muttered a quick "Sorry," before continuing "Anderson is forcing me into this. We only need girls with minimal talent anyway – she's planning on dropping them after they've served their purpose."

This aspect was news to Kelly. "Isn't that unfair to whoever we pick? I mean, we're promising them fame and fortune and the record company already wants to drop them?"

"We're giving them the chance to have an album. To shoot at least two music videos, to attend big Hollywood events, to sing with Big Time Rush! That's more fame and fortune than any of the women we see at all today were ever going to get in the first place."

And as much as Kelly hated to admit it, he had a point. She was about to tell him so, when the sound of high heels hitting the stage became audible.

"Name! Age! BTR song of choice! Go!"

Unlike the other women who'd been auditioning the past two days, the redhead who stood on the stage wasn't fazed at all by Gustavo's barking. "Delia Foster. Twenty two. Nothing Even Matters."

She looked incredibly pale on stage, but Kelly noted that it was probably due to her vibrant red hair and black dress she had on. She wore black heeled boots, and paired the look with a pearl necklace and pearl earrings. Bright red lipstick and gold eyeshadow framing her blue eyes was what she chose to tie it all together.

" _It's like one for the haters_ ," she began, and to both Gustavo's and Kelly's surprise, she wasn't terrible.

" _Two for all of those who try to shut us down.  
They don't really know.  
There ain't nothing they can do that can tear us apart.  
No, I don't care about the money, don't care about the clothes.  
When we're together, baby, anything goes.  
We don't even need to prove what we feel in our hearts, no._

 _This wall we built together, there ain't no way of knocking it over.  
We'll be here forever, getting closer, and closer baby._

 _'Cause the world stops  
When I put my arms around you, around you.  
And nothing even matters.  
And nothing even matters.  
They can all talk,  
Say what they want about us, about us.  
And nothing even matters.  
And nothing even matters._

 _Nothing even matters.  
And nothing even matters.  
We don't even need to fight.  
Everything will be alright.  
Nothing even matters, but you and I._

 _'Cause the world stops  
When I put my arms around you, around you.  
And nothing even matters, nothing even matters.  
And nothing even matters.  
They can all talk, say what they want about us,  
Say what they want whoa  
And nothing even matters.  
And nothing even matters._"

"That!" Gustavo began, waving his finger in the air as he spoke "Wasn't actually terrible."

"Thank you?" Delia replied, quirking an eyebrow up in confusion. "Should I expect to hear back within a certain period of time?"

"Well given you're the only one who hasn't run off the stage in tears today…" his head teetered back and forth. He really knew nothing about this girl, or about her character or work ethic. Then again, she was talented and he only needed her for one album. On the other other hand, he only knew that she wasn't a terrible singer…

"Can you dance? Cross legs spin pose!"

"You mean like…" she performed the move that had taken the boys hours to learn when they had first started the "boyband bootycamp" Gustavo had them endure upon their first few days with a carefree ease. "That?"

A smirk spread it's way across Gustavo's face. "Delia Foster, welcome to Gustavo's Roque Untitled Girl Group!"

* * *

 **AN: So welcome to my first story! I know the boys went on hiatus before this IRL, but what about the world of the TV show? I've started rewatching the first season and I haven't seen any of the episodes in a long, long time other than my current rewatch so the story will likely be based on the first season, expect several years later. The boys are 22-23, and for the purposes of this story, they're all single and they no longer live at the Palm Woods. Also, the story will focus much more on the girls than the boys. If you're still interested in submitting a character to this story with all that in mind, you can find the application on my profile! Please submit your OC via PM only! Thanks!**


	2. Hopped Off a Plane at LAX

To the surprise of Gustavo, Kelly, and even Karen Anderson, he found the other three girls fairly easily. Cleveland Ohio brought them Callie Lightwood – a beautiful twenty two year old woman who was a fantastic dancer and could carry tune. A few stops later and they were in Boston Massachusetts where they found Brooke Wallace – a twenty one year old blonde with a history of both dance and music, and a student at Julliard. And surprisingly enough, the missing piece to the puzzle of Gustavo Roque's Untitled Girl Group was one Auden Cassleman who was found in Juneau, Alaska, of all places. While she had an amazing voice, what really made Gustavo decide she was needed was the fact that of all the women he'd seen, her response to being told she wasn't terrible was yelling "Your mom wasn't terrible last night!" It had reminded him of a young Kendall Knight, not that he'd ever admit it.

And a month later, Kelly was to pick the girls up from the airport. All of their flights landed in LAX within an hour of each other, and Callie was the first to arrive. "Callie Lightwood?" she asked, recognizing the girl from the audition before reaching out her hand to shake it "Kelly Wainwright. We met in Cleveland?"

"Right." The brunette smiled, removing her obscenely large sunglasses to shake Kelly's hand. Kelly was a bit surprised at her clothing choice – while a very similar outfit had made perfect sense for an audition, her current attire of an emerald green low-cut tank top and black booty shorts, with black heeled boots seemed a little impractical for an airplane ride. "So when do I get to meet the rest of the group?"

"Soon!" Kelly promised "But first, let's get your luggage, and then we'll head over and wait for Brooke, she should be landing shortly."

And a few minutes later, a blonde just a hair taller than Callie stepped into Kelly's line of vision. "Brooke Wallace, I'd like you to meet your bandmate, Calliope Lightwood."

"Call me Callie." The brunette spoke with a grin, reaching out to shake Brooke's hand.

With a small shy smile, the blonde replied "It's great to meet you." Callie seemed incredibly dressed up in comparison to her own pastel pink tank top and jeans with a navy cardigan. If all of the other girls were this level of Hollywood glamourous…Brooke swallowed, leaving the thought alone. Slowly, she turned her head to Kelly to ask "And where are the others?"

Twenty minutes later, Kelly, Callie, and Brooke stood waiting for Delia. The redhead was noticeably shorter than the other two, standing a good four inches smaller. "Delia Foster – meet your bandmates."

She moved her hand forward, giving them both a firm handshake and a charming smile "My pleasure. And you are?"

"Callie."

"Brooke!"

"And as Miss Wainwright mentioned, I'm Delia…"

She was cut off by the instance of "Please, please, call me Kelly. And we need to get going. Auden's flight just landed and then I'm sure you girls will be eager to get to your new home and unpack."

They had shifted from Delia's gate to Auden's, and waited patiently for the fourth and final member of the group.

When the twenty year old saw Kelly standing with the three other girls she immediately ran over to hug them, cooing "Awe you guys got all dressed up just to come see me? How sweet!"

"We actually all just got off a plane." Callie attempted to inform her, doing her best to tap Auden's shoulder as an indication that she wanted to be released.

"What?" Auden asked, releasing the girls and taking a step backwards. "Ain't no way you bitches dressed like that for a plane ride."

Auden's dyed green hair was in a mess ponytail on the top of her head, and she was wearing worn out grey leggings with an oversized black shirt and a purple flannel, with black converse shoes.

"Uhh…" Kelly sort of stared at the display for a moment, before her instincts kicked back in "Let's get Delia and Auden their luggage, shall we? And then we'll have you girls off to your new apartment."

* * *

About an hour later, the Roque Records company car pulled into a beautiful gated community, and continued to drive down to the fourth building. "Ladies, welcome to the Royal Oaks Gated Community! You'll be living in 52-17…" she pulled out four small keychains, each with an apartment key and a mail key attached, and on the keychain itself was the code to get in past the gates. "And a driver will pick you up in two hours to bring you over to Roque Records. Hopefully that'll give you ladies enough time to unpack, and shower if you need to."

As each girl took their key, and Brooke smiled and genuinely thanked Kelly, the car took off, leaving the four women in front of their new home.

"DIBS ON THE BIGGEST BEDROOM!" Auden yelled, elbowing past the other girls as she took off running.

While Delia, Callie and Brooke looked at each other incredulously for a moment, it was less than a minute before they all took off running behind her.

Auden had a head start on the others so she got into the apartment first and had claimed the biggest bed. Callie wasn't far behind, and snatched up the room the with biggest window. Brooke had only beat Delia by a hair, and there wasn't much difference in the two rooms left over, so Delia took the slightly smaller one which connected to one of the two bathrooms while the room Brooke ended up in was just slightly larger than Delia's.

After about a half hour of unpacking, Delia stepped into the common area – which was a living room with an open kitchen – and called out "Okay so there's two showers, and four of us, which two of you ladies are getting in first?"

"DIBS!" cried Auden "My hair's the longest!"

"By that logic I get to go first too!" Callie cried.

Delia shouted back "Okay good! Let me and Brooke know once you're out!"

"Honey I've been out since high school!" Callie sang back.

"SAME!" Auden replied in a fit a laughter.

Delia rolled her eyes, throwing herself on the couch as she yelled "You can keep making bi jokes once we all smell good, ladies!"

* * *

And two hours later, the girls were all freshly showered and made up and standing outside of Gustavo Roque's office. It was the first time he'd be seeing the group lined up as a group. Callie stood on one end, her hair now half up, dressed in a black crop top, fitted dark wash denim jeans and black knee high boots. Next to her stood Delia, in a black dress dotted in white polka dots and a pair of low black heels, her hair in a stylish curly bun on the side of her head. Next to her was Brooke, in a white dress with a black cardigan and black flats, her hair in a loose braid. On the end was Auden, who wore black leggings and a black and white Aerosmith t-shirt under a black white and grey flannel, paired with the same black sneakers from before. It had been Delia's idea to dress in the same color scheme, to help Gustavo already see them as a group. While both Auden and Callie had rolled their eyes, they all agreed it was a good idea.

Soon, they were ushered in to his office. "Well well, welcome to Roque Records ladies! Within the next month you'll be up on these walls, just like BoyQuake, Boys In The Attic, Kat's Crew, and of course, Big Time Rush." He paused, and while there was a definite smile on Delia's face, the other girls seemed…uneffected. "Aren't you going to squeal or something?"

"Over a boy band that are on their way to has been-city?" Auden questioned, raising her eyebrow skeptically.

"Besides," Brooke added with a shrug "They're just people."

Well, this definitely wasn't the response Gustavo had been expecting. "Uh huh." His voice was deflated, dejected even. "But before you girls can reach the wall, you'll need to be able to sing, and be able to dance, and have a hit song on the radio. I'll take care of the song writing, but you ladies are now officially in Gustavo Roque booty camp!"

"Booty camp?" Auden questioned "Does it involve twerking?"

"Oh I am here for that!" Callie replied, already bending over and twerking alongside Auden.

Gustavo was disgusted. "What? No, no no!" he slammed his coffee mug on the desk, in a desperate attempt to take control of the room again. "You'll be put through rigorous dance training and then you'll come meet me in the studio to go over some song options."

"That sounds doable." Delia smiled towards the other girls.

"Sounds like fun actually." Brooke agreed.

And while Callie nodded, Auden shook her head, moving to hold her right foot in her hand "Oh no. These babies don't do choreography."

"Well those babies will have to," Gustavo interjected "If they want to be part of my girl group."

* * *

Dance rehearsal had gone about just as well as anyone would've expected. Callie and Brooke picked it up so easily they were almost bored by the end of it, Delia was able to keep up nicely, and while Auden dragged behind a bit, she was still trying.

A few hours later, they met with Gustavo again, this time in his recording studio. "Before we can even get into the songs, I need to know how you all sound when you sing together. So…" There was a pause before he bluntly stated "Sing something for me."

"We haven't exactly had time to prepare anything." Callie stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

Both Brooke and Delia jumped when Gustavo's fist slammed down on to the piano sitting in front of him. "This isn't about preparedness! This is about finding out what you girls sound like together. I know you can all sing mediocrely on your own. But in order to get a real feel for the girl group, I need to hear what your voices sound like together."

"Yeah, okay, speaking of that," Auden interrupted "Shouldn't we have a name? And like, a brand or something? I may have dropped out of business school but I can still recognize that you have no marketing plan like whatsoever here."

Another random smashing of keys, though this time the girls were prepared for it. "The only marketing that still needs to be done is coming up with a name! Did you girls think you were all thrown into this group because of your _talent_?" he stood up, walking towards them now. "You are only here because you each fit a specific boyband or girl group archetype. Auden," he stated, while standing right in front of her. "Is the bad boy." He continued to move down the line, standing in front of Callie next. "Callie is 'the face', or 'the pretty one'. Brooke is the boy or girl next door type, and Delia is our Ginger Spice."

"Is that..." her voice trailed off in confusion, but she did find it again to finish asking "because of my hair?"

"NO!" Gustavo screamed the shortest member's face. "It's because you're the one most likely to leave the group and pursue acting or a solo career or some other ridiculous nonsense that you will undoubtedly fail at."

She let out a small "I see." as her eyes moved to the floor.

"Now, are you ladies going to sing something for me today or not?"

For a moment, they all kind of looked at each other in confusion, trying to read each other for something useable, until Auden just decided to go with her gut and started singing

" _Rollin' past graffiti walls,  
Billboards lighting up the block  
Every one of us on a mission  
Got a whole crew by my side  
Cars beep, beep when they pass us by  
Be ready to get down to business"  
_

Delia and Brooke glanced at each other and sang " _We pull up_ ,"

" _Open the door"_ Callie supplied

 _"All the girls,"_

" _Scream there they are  
It's packed from wall to wall  
And, everybody is calling"_

 _"Here we come,"_

" _It's almost time"_

" _Feel the rush,"_

" _Now hit the lights  
We gonna get it all started"  
_  
The girls all sang together, but Delia took the main melody while the others harmonized

 _"Because the night is young  
The line is out the door  
Today was crazy but,  
Tonight the city is ours  
Live it up  
Until the morning comes  
Today was crazy but tonight,"_

Finally, Brooke professionally sang out the elongated notes of _"The city is ours, the city is ours"_

They paused, and all stared at Gustavo expectantly. He walked past each of them once more, eyeing them up and down, before ultimately letting out a sigh and confessing "That will do. Consider yourselves dismissed for the day. Kelly will arrange from someone to drive you and for someone to pick you up tomorrow morning." He was met with the girls nodding, and each of them silently filing out of the room.

Unbeknownst to Gustavo's as of yet unnamed girl group, there was quite the surprise waiting for them on the other side of the door. All four had an ear pressed to said door as Logan whispered "He can't give away a song we already have on an album, can he?"

"Maybe it's a cover?" Kendall tried.

"Or a tribute!" Carlos chirped.

James had opened his mouth to respond, but was sent tumbling, as were the other three members of Big Time Rush, as the girls had opened the door.

"What the fuck…" Auden mumbled staring at the boys in a crumbled mess on the floor.

Quickly springing to his feet, Kendall let out a semi-exasperated sounding "H-hey there, ladies. I'm Kendall. This is Carlos," he gestured to the shorter man who'd just sprung back up alongside him, "And James," he gestured once again as James tried to pull himself back onto his own feet, "And Logan" he gestured this time to the one member who was still on the floor, though Carlos had extended a hand to help him up. "And we're Big Time Rush. Welcome to Roque Records!"

"Are you girls in a group or something?" Carlos asked, his usual cheerful demeanor practically receiving exponential growth with each word.

Callie spoke first "We're Gustavo's new, still unnamed girl group. I'm Callie."

"Brooke." The blonde smiled, giving a small wave.

"I'm Auden." The tallest supplied while giving the males a 'sup' nod.

Delia extended her hand, ready to give the world's most firm handshake as she finished "I'm Delia. It's a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen."

While Carlos, Logan and Kendall looked at her hand and then at each other with utmost confusion etched on their faces, James was quick to swoop in, shaking her hand and flashing one of his most gorgeous smiles "Hey Delia. I'm James." His voice was lowered, and he was using the sexiest tone he could for having just been lying on the floor, and as he spoke he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

The other six stood watching in a mix of horror and interest as they stood shaking each other's hand, both still smiling and both never breaking eye contact for the better part of forty seconds, until thankfully, Gustavo also left the room. Walking in to seeing the odd display in the hallway, he rolled his eyes, physically separating the handshake as he explained "If we have to wait for her to stop trying to charm everyone and for him to stop trying to flirt with everyone we'll be here for the rest of our lives."

"He's like that…all the time?" Callie questioned, raising an eyebrow.

James then turned his direction towards her, flashing a new gorgeous smile and reusing the same voice as he replied "When you look like this, it's only fair to behave like this."

"Wait wait wait wait," she spoke, moving her hands in front of her as if to distance herself from him "You mean to tell me you think that because you're good looking you're somehow…different?"

"Different, better, fortunate," he shrugged, before gesturing towards her "I mean, you're gorgeous, you get it."

Callie narrowed her eyes "That's really messed up."

Sensing his cue to jump in Gustavo once again needed to physically separate James from a member of his new girl group. And it had already been less than a minute. God help him. "I'm actually glad you're all here!" Of course – this caused all eyes to turn to Gustavo. Clearing his throat, he specified "So corporate wants the two groups to engage in some…'cross promotion'…" he put air quotes around the words, "Which includes one of the girls, and one of the dogs, pretending to be in a relationship. They also suggested we pick the most attractive members, so, fight amongst yourselves, I guess."

The boys had no reason to fight. Immediately in sync, Logan, Carlos and Kendall all put a hand on the tallest shoulder and said "James."

A small smile creeping onto his face, James replied "Aw, thanks guys!"

Satisfied with their decision, the boys turned their attention back towards the girls, who were all of a sudden screaming at each other.

Well, to be fair, it was mostly Delia and Callie screaming, both claiming they were more attractive than the other. Brooke had taken several steps back, and was covering her eyes with both of her hands. After listening to the redhead and brunette argue for just a few more seconds, Auden had finally had enough and boomed – her voice loud enough to drown out the other two members – "YOUR MOM IS THE MOST ATTRACTIVE"

This caused the girls to finally stop arguing. With a frustrated sigh, Delia finally conceded "Fine, okay, you want to do this? You can do this. You're prettiest."

"Alright. So Callie and James, we'll set up some fake dates with paparazzi for you next week." Gustavo informed them.

Immediately, the triumphant expression on Callie's face fell. "Him? But…he's…he's so…?"

"Wonderful? Charming? Devilishly handsome?" James attempted to supply.

Callie whined "He's so full of it."

"He's full of something alright." Auden muttered under her breath.

With a slight smirk, Delia shrugged "Oh, but you're so much prettier than I am, Callie. We just had this argument. You really are the only one who can really do this for us..."

"But…but I don't…" Callie stuttered.

James gave a wink and a smile as he told her "See you next week."

Brooke put a hand on Callie's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "It won't be so bad. How bad could it possibly be?"


	3. Work This Out

**AN: So. This chapter was not exactly what I wanted it to be. I had planned to have it out sooner and it doesn't actually meet my expectations, but it's here and finished so hopefully you all enjoy. It was originally supposed to be longer, with two additional scenes, but they were cut due to being random surplus that while gave us a closer look at some of the characters, didn't really move the plot along or add anything to the chapter that wasn't already present. So here is chapter two, which I'm not entirely pleased with, but rest assured that better, funnier, and shippier things lie ahead in the next few chapters!**

 **And as a side note, I am not a song writer by any means, so any "original" songs featured in this story will be listed in the author's note. The song used in this chapter - and that will be used in the next - is Perfect Christmas by S Club 7**

* * *

"I have some concerns…"

That was not what Gustavo had wanted to hear upon showing his new girl group – who was still in search of a name – their first song. Turning the mic on to yell at the short redhead behind the glass he cried, "What kind of concerns?!"

Delia stared at him, unblinking, before stating "It just appears that, even with all four of our sheets here, we don't have a full song."

"Also it's all about Christmas?" Auden replied "Not that Christmas isn't lit, but it's not even October yet."

"It's a demo." Gustavo attempted to explain, "And if it works then we're going to air it in November which is the perfect time for a Christmas song!"

This time it was Brooke who spoke up "That still doesn't explain why we're missing lyrics."

"That's because…" he paused, not sure how much of the truth to tell the girls in the booth, before finally admitting "…it's supposed to be a duet with Big Time Rush."

"Isn't a duet two people?" Brooke questioned "This would be an octet, right?"

"And if they're on this track why aren't they here?" Callie questioned.

"They're a very popular very busy boyband." Gustavo replied in his best attempt to remain monotone. Why did these girls feel the need to question literally everything? "They'll record their vocals later. But they will shoot the video with you."

Auden raised an eyebrow before questioning "So are we even getting our own first single or are we just hood ornaments for your boyband?"

"Are you actually going to sing or are you just going to question my every move?!" Gustavo cried.

There was an audible sigh before the girls started up again.

Brooke sang softly and sweetly; _"_ _Hello friend, it's me again  
I just called to tell you,  
Even though I miss you so  
I've been thinking of you  
All my dreams are coming true, at last...oooh"_

There was an abnormally long pause as they waited for the next musical cue. Auden stood glaring at Gustavo, Brooke twiddled her thumbs, Callie was braiding the ends of her hair, and Delia was awkwardly swaying from side to side. _  
_

Eventually, Auden finally counted to the bar where she was supposed to start singing;

" _The greatest gift that there could be  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you  
Though the winter seems so long  
My faith in love has kept me strong  
So if I had a wish come true  
I'd send the perfect Christmas with you"  
_

There was another long pause again, before Callie finally reached her cue  
 _"_ _The perfect ending to a wonderful year  
Would be celebrate the good times with you here  
Cuz I know  
For sure  
I never wanted anything more"_

Auden was able to go right back into the chorus, thankfully.

" _The greatest gift that there could be  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you"_

Delia had finally gotten to her cue

 _"So when you ask me what I mean_  
 _To me the Christmas is complete_  
 _Boy can't you see"_

However, the awkward pause before Auden got back into the chorus was so noticeable that Callie visibly cringed

 _"_ _The greatest gift that there could be_ _  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you  
Though the winter seems so long  
My faith in love has kept me strong  
So if I had a wish come true  
I'd send the perfect Christmas..._

 _And if I had one wish come true..._

 _I_ _'d spend the perfect Christmas here..."_

As soon as she finished singing, Auden screamed "Gustavo what the FUCK?! Are you seriously giving one of those boyband asshats the big finish to _our_ first song?!"

"To be fair," he inhaled, before admitting "Technically it's their song, and you're going to be featured on it."

"Wait, for real?!" Callie asked, suddenly a lot more upset "So when are we going to be working on our song for our album?"

"Soon!" he promised.

Delia was the next to speak – but to Gustavo's pleasant surprise, it wasn't directed at him, but rather, her bandmates. "This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I honestly think that it's an ideal way to grow our fanbase, people will recognize our name before our own first song debuts-"

She was cut off by Auden "But we're always going to be tied to Gustavo's fucking pet project! We shouldn't be the girls who sang with Big Time Rush that one time, we should be our own thing. Which reminds me, how is that name coming along?"

"I don't have time for this." Gustavo grumbled into the other end. "I just need you ladies to give me some clean vocals before I have an aneurysm!"

* * *

A few hours later, Callie was on her way for her "date" with James. She had dressed up for the press, but not enough to make an effort to impress him. As far as she was concerned, he was still an airheaded dirt bag who was so far up his own asshole she was surprised he was walking upright. But she was doing this for the group. They needed the publicity, and she was the face.

She'd already been sitting at the outdoor café where they were set to meet when she heard the absolutely cringe worthy sound of his voice "Well well, aren't we looking lovely today?"

Her eyes never left the menu in front of her as she replied as stonily as possible. "Let's just get this over with."

James pouted as he moved to the chair across from her, sitting down. "What's with sour voice? I'm beautiful, you're beautiful, the day is beautiful…"

"Is being beautiful all you care about?" she asked, finally darting her head up to look at him, her menu slamming down in front of her as she did so.

"No." he replied with a shrug, before adding "But it is super important. I mean, look at me." Slowly he leaned in towards her and gave his head a short shake to the left as he whispered "Don't look at the camera, but definitely play your good side to it."

"Listen," she spoke as calmly as she good, eyes still focused on her menu. "I really don't want to be here. I want to spend as little time with you as possible because we are not going to get along."

"Not with that attitude!"

She sighed, moving to rub her temple. "There are tons of girls just as superficially pretty as I am that I'm certain would love to hear you talk about how great you think you look…"

"Why are you like this?" he interrupted.

There was a pause, as Callie slowly raised one of her eyebrows to ask "Excuse me?"

"Seriously. Okay, I get that we don't have compatible personalities or whatever and that you don't want to date me but I've barely said anything and you just keep yammering on about how you don't want to be here. Like I could be a great guy. We could be best friends but you'd never know because you already decided you don't like me."

Crossing her arms over her chest she replied "You haven't exactly given me a lot to work with."

"You haven't given me the chance to!" he argued.

Callie sighed, ultimately deciding that maybe she had been a tad unfair. "I've just got a lot on my mind, okay? I just moved from my hometown and I have a new job and I'm living with three girls I've never met before and now I'm 'dating' someone I would never actually date in a million years. It's a lot to take in."

"Okay but you don't need to take it out on me." He whined, slinking down farther into his chair. "Let's just have some lunch and then you can take a nap or something."

* * *

Meanwhile, Brooke was trying to avoid both Delia and Auden to no avail. On the one hand, Delia thought that being featured on a Big Time Rush track was a good thing – the boys had a fanbase and it would get their names out to their target demographic. Auden meanwhile didn't think that their initial career launching point should be tied with anyone, that their success should come from their own talent and their own sound and their own marketing. That way no one could say they ever owed their success to anyone else.

And to be quite honest, it was getting to be a little too much for Brooke to take. Both girls made some very serious points, but they'd started fighting for her opinion. Both wanted Brooke to side with them, and all the poor girl wanted was a moment of peace and quiet. With her headphones in, she was walking along a trail at a park not far from where the girls were living. She was so caught up in the stress of the situation and trying to lose herself in the music that she didn't hear the voice calling to her, or the arm trying to flag her down, until she stopped moving to skip the next song that had come up, and the boy running behind her ran smack into her.

"Oh my gosh," he gasped right away, taking a few steps back, but resting his hands on her forearms "I'm so sorry Brooke I was trying to get your attention and…"

"Carlos," she interrupted, with a warm, genuine smile on her face, "It's okay. I wasn't paying attention. It's my fault."

His voice was whiny, but the tone was still genuine and pleasant as he argued "But I still feel really bad for literally running into you like that. I could've stopped running or something!"

"I promise," she assured him, gently moving one of her arms to rest on the boy's shoulder, "it's fine. What were you trying to get my attention for anyway?"

With a smile and a shrug he replied "Just wanted to say hi! We didn't get off on the best foot the other day and you looked a little lonely."

She cracked a smile as she explained "I was trying to get a minute to myself, actually. Delia and Auden aren't exactly agreeing at the moment and I just kind of needed a breather."

"Oh." He replied, his face falling a little as he apologized "I'm sorry for bothering you then. I can go. It was nice talking to you."

"You don't have to leave." She found herself saying before her brain completely registered the fact that she was talking. "I just kind of needed to get away from those two for a little bit. You're not stressing me out like they are."

"What are they fighting about?" he asked, moving to sit on a nearby bench "If you don't mind me asking, of course!"

She followed, sitting on the bench's opposite end as she admitted "It kind of has to do with your band, actually."

"Is it about who's the cutest?" Carlos asked, "Cause then the right one is whoever said Logan."

With a light chuckle and a slight eyebrow raise she let out a slightly confused sounding "No?" before explaining "We're going to be featured on one of your songs before we get our own."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Carlos asked, his tone curious but optimistic.

Sighing, Brooke began twisting a strand of her long blonde hair that was currently tied into a ponytail around her finger. "Well Auden thinks it's a bad thing. She thinks we should get famous on our own merits first and that we shouldn't be tied to another act. But Delia thinks it's a good thing because it will get our name out, so when our own song does come out people will already know who we are and they'll be more likely to buy it."

Carlos' smile faded slightly as he replied "Well that's what Auden think and that's what Delia thinks but that's not what I want to know. What does _Brooke_ think?"

The blonde was taken aback slightly. Neither Auden or Delia had really asked for her opinion, but rather for her unwavering agreement. She hadn't really given it much thought. "They both have valid points. But in the end shouldn't it be about getting our music out to as many people as possible?"

Carlos nodded, stating "I think so. But that's just what I think. I can't tell you what to think, cause I'm not you. Only you're you."

"Hard to argue with that." Brooke smiled.

Grinning even more than before, Carlos offered "Maybe Auden and Delia will think so, too."

* * *

The following day the girls were back in the studio with Gustavo. "Are you actually going to cooperate today, or should I just send you home early?"

Delia was the first to speak. "I'm more than willing to cooperate, and I apologize in advance for any outbursts that may come out of my bandmates."

Callie then spoke "Let's just get this over with."

"Hold up," Auden cried, "I still want to know what the exact plans for us are. Are we still just decorations for those Big Time Assholes or are we actually getting our own song with our own name any time soon?"

"We're. Working. On. It." Gustavo snarled, already regretting his decision to include Auden Cassleman in his new girl group line up, wondering if it was still early enough to kick her out and replace her.

Not realizing the mic was still on, Callie muttered "I don't even care at this point as long as it keeps me from seeing James Diamond's stupid face any longer than necessary."

"What even happened on the date?" Brooke inquired.

"He was an asshole who told me I needed to take a nap." She replied rolling her eyes.

"Maybe he has a point." Delia replied.

Whipping her head around to face the shortest member of the still unnamed girl group, Callie replied "Well that's easy for you to say. All you ever seem to do is suck up to Gustavo and suck up to his precious boyband, especially James."

"With all due respect," Delia replied, her tone dangerously cool and even "some of us actually try to get a decent's nights sleep and would be able to if someone didn't sing so obnoxiously loud in the shower at three AM and went to bed at a decent hour like a more civilized human being."

"Literally _no one_ asked you Delia!" Auden screamed.

"ENOUGH!" Gustavo bellowed from behind the glass.

He was about to yell even more at them before he was totally taken by surprise, as the girls were all interrupted by a suddenly very aggressive Brooke. "Seriously, why are all of you like this?!" she asked "We've been given such a huge opportunity here. Do you know how many people would die for the opportunity just to show up in a Big Time Rush music video, let alone sing with them? So maybe James is a little insufferable, but so are all of you! All I want is the chance to make music. It's all I've ever wanted to do. But I can't do that if the three of you are just going to yell at each other all the time! How will you be able to tour and do photo shoots together when you can't agree on something that's literally a once in a lifetime opportunity?!"

There was a long pause, before finally, Callie broke the silence, her voice uncharacteristically small. "You're right, Brooke. You're so, so right. I'm so sorry. I don't know why I've been acting this way. But you're right. We need to get our act together. And from now on, I'm going to give being professional my all."

"I agree." Delia nodded. "And I'd like to extend my deepest apologies for my own behavior. It was wildly inappropriate, the absolute last thing I want is to make life difficult for any of you."

Auden merely nodded, offering a small "Same."

"So." Gustavo spoke from behind the glass. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, shall we take it from the top?"

The girls looked at each other, and for the first time, nodded in perfect sync. "Let's do it."


	4. Never Have I Ever

**AN: Holy poo is this chapter longer than I originally intended. I guess it makes up for the shortness of the previous one? Also two chapters in a week I'm on a roll look at me go! So just a few notes - note one, this chapter ended up being much more focused on Delia than I had originally intended. Not sure why it happened that way, but I'm still happy with how it turned out. Also, song is still Perfect Christmas by S Club 7, and while the male and female vocal ratios in the story aren't the same as the original song, I would recommend listening to it while reading the music video at the end! I think that's it notewise, other than that, as I'm sure you can probably tell, I didn't proof read this chapter. It was just super long and I couldn't be bothered hahaha. Enjoy!**

* * *

Gustavo had to squint upon arriving on set. The whole set was a piercing white, with white lights and white props – even the few Christmas trees around were covered in fake snow. And all four members of Big Time Rush and all four members of his girl group – which he really hoped would've had a name by now – were dressed from head to toe in the color. "Alright," his voice echoed, causing all eight of the young adults to jump "this is supposed to be Christmas, let's try and look jolly!"

They were sat on white stools in a semi circle, each sat with whomever they shared their vocal part with. Upon his direction, on one end, both James and Delia flashed super large, super charming, super fake smiles. Next to them sat Logan, who'd merely straightened up, and Callie, who'd slumped down further. Auden and Kendall looked to each other with confused expressions, Gustavo overhearing Kendall mutter "What does that even mean?", and on the other end, Brooke and Carlos sat happily smiling – and actually seemed genuinely happy, unlike the smiles he'd gotten on the other end.

"Look at Carlos and Brooke, act like that!" he directed.

Auden asked "Can I be Carlos? I want a helmet."

And Logan interjected "The song is kind of sad though, isn't that sending a mixed message?"

"I don't care what kind of message it sends," Gustavo explained "So long as we get this video done in time for the Holidays!"

Kelly then stepped in behind Gustavo, her voice kinder as she reminded "And the girls haven't ever done a music video, so boys, we'd appreciate it if you kept your shenanigans to a minimum."

There was a collective "Awww" from the boys, while Callie and Kelly both shook their heads in unison.

They spent four hours that morning filming footage, and while it had all gone off fairly smoothly – a fact which had surprised everyone involved – upon looking over what they had gotten filmed that day, Gustavo angrily cried "I can't use any of this!"

"What's the matter?" Kelly inquired, leaning over his shoulder to look at the shots they'd taken.

"Look at them!" he cried, tossing his hand not to the performers on the video, but rather at the young group of eight who'd just changed out of wardrobe "They have no chemistry at all! It's a Christmas love song, and I don't think any of you even _like_ each other!"

Callie rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she replied "In our defense that's likely because you put James and Delia together and they're the two fakest people ever manufactured."

A hand flying over her chest, Delia cooed "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"It's not just the good looking robots. You're just as guilty!" Gustavo thrust a finger in Callie's face, which she swatted away. "Not only did you not even look at Logan the whole time, but it doesn't even seem like you're friends with the girls!"

Auden interjected "Well it's not like we're four hockey players from Minnesota who were best friends and all happened to be good singers. We were assembled. It's dumb to think that we'd automatically like each other."

"I don't think Delia actually likes anyone at all." Callie added. Delia merely smiled and nodded.

Brooke then spoke up "It's not like we've even really had time to get to know each other. Ever since we landed in LA it's been rehearsals and press etiquette classes and talking to focus groups about a name…"

"And how exactly is that coming?" Auden asked Gustavo, her obvious annoyance with the fact was becoming more and more of a bother every day.

"Maybe," Kelly interrupted, "The girls just need some time to get to know each other better."

Gustavo sighed. "Okay, fine. You have the rest of the day off, since you weren't going to give me any useable footage today anyway. But when you come back tomorrow you better be willing to at least pretend like you enjoy each other's company!"

"So, since the girls are gone," Kendall questioned, raising an eyebrow, "does that mean we're done for the day, too?"

"Cause I'd also like to get to know the girls better, if you know what I mean." James chuckled softly.

"Yes! Fine! Whatever!" Gustavo cried, throwing the various sheets of paper he had in his hands in the air. "We wasted an entire day of shooting anyway!"

* * *

And that was how the group of eight twenty-somethings ended up in the girls' apartment, sitting on the floor in a circle with three bottles of tequila in the middle. "So everyone knows how to play?" Auden clarified.

"Yep! Someone says something they've never done, and if you _have_ done it, you take a drink!" Carlos chirped.

Next to Carlos sat James, and next to him, Delia, followed by Auden, Kendall, Logan, Callie and Brooke, who sat on Carlos' other side.

"Alright since it was my idea, I'll go first." Auden decided, "Let's start out easy. Never have I ever walked out of a movie theatre because I didn't like the movie."

At this, Logan took a shot. "Really?" he asked, eyeing everyone else in the circle. "I'm the only one?"

Kendall than spoke "Never have I ever had a crush on a friend's parent."

Delia and Carlos both took a shot.

Eyes glaring at Auden, Logan stated "Never have I ever played a drinking game while under the legal drinking age."

Auden shouted "AT ME NEXT TIME MITCHELL" before taking a shot, as did Callie, Kendall, and Carlos.

Finishing her shot, Callie confessed "Never have I ever been outside of the United States." Everyone but Brooke took a shot.

On Brooke's turn, she said "Never have I ever cheated on a test." This time, everyone but Logan took a drink.

Carlos thought for a moment before taking his turn. "Never have I ever…kissed someone on the first date." Kendall, James, Logan, Auden and Callie all took a shot.

After finishing his shot, James shook his "Okay but never have I ever had sex on the first date."

Auden was the only one to take a shot, causing her to then cry out "You bunch of party poopers!"

There was a slight smirk on Delia's face, but it fell quickly as she took her turn "Never have I ever looked through someone else's phone." This caused Auden, Brooke, Kendall and Logan to all take a shot.

Coming back to Auden, she thought for a moment, deciding to spice things up a little "Never have I ever worn someone else's underwear." Brooke, Callie and Logan all took a shot.

Kendall thought for a moment, before deciding on. "Never have I ever played this game with girls before." Auden, Delia, and Callie all took a shot.

On Logan's turn, he said "Never have I ever peed in a pool." Which caused Kendall, Carlos, and Auden to all take a shot.

Callie had clearly already had her next turn in mind, as she wasted no time announcing "Never have I ever sent nudes." Auden, Brooke, Kendall, and James all took a shot.

Brooke thought for a moment, before stating "Never have I ever had sexual thoughts about anyone in this room." To the blonde's absolute surprise, everyone took a drink.

"Never have I ever had sex." Carlos smirked, knowing he was the only member of Big Time Rush who hadn't. He watched gleefully as his friends took another shot.

Eyes narrowing, Logan stated "Delia didn't take a drink."

"You're correct." She stated simply, shrugging, while keeping her eyes fixated on the carpet.

Logan wasn't buying it. "Bullshit."

Her eyes still never coming off of the floor, she replied, fairly calmly "Not that whether I have or not is any of your business, but I haven't."

"But you have had sexual feelings about someone in this room…" Kendall tried to egg her on.

She did finally break her gaze with the carpet to look Kendall in the eye "I'm sure you're well aware of the fact that someone is capable of sexual feelings without having had sex. I was a teenager when Big Time Rush debuted and I certainly thought Logan was the cute one and I may have had a wandering thought or two of him in my youth, but that does not at all correlate with my sex life."

Feeling semi-flustered, Logan questioned "You thought I was the cute one?"

With a sickeningly sweet smile and tone, she replied "I did. But are any of us proud of who we were at sixteen?"

"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Logan got ROASTED!" Auden cried.

Delia shifted uncomfortably as she suggested "Let's get back to the game, shall we? I believe it was James' turn…"

Having been distracted by the conversation at hand, James blurted out the first thing that came to his mind which was "Never have I ever taken it up the ass!"

This earned him a lot of confused looks "Dude," Carlos shook his head, "Why was that the first thing that came to you?"

"Well I haven't!" he argued. "Now drink up you heathens!"

Auden and Kendall both took a shot.

"Kendall what the fuck…" Logan muttered.

Eyes wide, James questioned "Was it Jo or Lucy I need to know!"

"I have a whole secret sex life no one of you know about…" was his response.

* * *

The game continued for a few more rounds before they decided to take a short snack break, ultimately deciding that Truth or Dare was the better game for once everyone was fed. Delia was in the girls' kitchen putting the shot glasses in the dishwasher when Callie stepped in. "Hey, are you okay?"

Her reaction time was a little slow due to the shots she'd taken, but she did manage to turn around fairly easily and respond. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Walking closer to the redhead, Callie ran a hand through her thick black hair as she explained "Well, you know, everyone was ganging up on you for being a virgin, and – apparently - no one noticed I didn't take a drink either."

There was a stiff moment of silence, before Delia admitted "I wasn't about to throw you under the bus."

"I would've swore that you would have though." Callie confessed. "You've only ever seemed interested in helping us if it was going to help you."

"Am I not allowed to be a decent human being?" She questioned, her voice suddenly bitter and tense.

Callie had opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the sound of Auden screaming "WHERE ARE THE FUCKING MARSHMALLOWS?!"

And suddenly it was as if Callie had never been talking to Delia in the first place, as her voice was once again sickeningly sweet as she called back "Here in the kitchen! May I inquire as to what you need them for?"

Auden can charging into the kitchen, with Kendall on her heels "This bitchass boybander thinks he can fit more marshmallows in his mouth at once than I can which is clearly ridiculous."

Kendall then spun Auden around, hands on her shoulders and his face so close she could taste the tequila from his breath as he quipped "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, Cassleman." He held one of his arms out in Delia's direction, and the redhead happily placed the bag in his grasp. "You're going to eat those words. And significantly less marshmallows than I can."

"Bring it on." Auden threatened.

Callie and Delia both decided to leave the room before everything was a sticky marshmallow mess.

They two ladies reentered the living room, Delia with a large porcelain bowl of popcorn in her hands, as they opted to sit on the furniture this time, rather than on a circle on the floor.

"So how are we doing this?" Brooke asked, moving to take a seat next to Delia on the couch, grabbing a small handful of popcorn in the process.

"We can just sort of go around in a circle again and who's ever turn it is can ask whoever they want whether it's truth or dare?" Carlos suggested.

Callie shrugged "Works for me." Eyes darting to Brooke, she asked "You wanna start us off?"

"Sure." Brooke smiled. "Um, Carlos, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" the boy replied almost immediately, slapping his helmet onto his head.

"I dare you to…" the blonde thought for a moment, eyes glancing around the room for inspiration, before deciding "Lick the inside of your shoe."

Carlos smiled at her "Really? That's all? No problem!". He did as he was dared, causing Brooke to wrinkle her nose up in disgust.

As Delia was sitting next to Brooke, turned to the blonde and asked "Brooke, truth or dare?"

"Truth." She smiled.

"If you were stuck on a desert island," Delia started, "And you were stranded with only one of the people in the room, who would you want it to be?"

Brooke bit down on her lip, before replying "I mean, Logan's really smart, right? I'm sure he'd be pretty useful in that kind of situation."

"Well thanks." Logan smiled. Realizing it was his turn, he turned to Callie. "Callie. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Which one of us have you had sexual thoughts about?"

Callie shrugged. "Same deal as Delia, really. When I was in high school I had a crush on Kendall."

"Hooooo Kendall!" Carlos grinned excitedly. He then glanced around, looking for this friend. "Kendall? Where did he go?"

Delia explained "He and Auden were putting marshmallows in their mouths just a moment ago."

Carlos gave a small happy shrug.

As James had been sitting next to Logan, he asked "Delia, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Okay, so," he shifted in his seat, "How come you thought Logan was the cute one and not me?"

Delia stared back at him, puzzled. "I'm not entirely sure how you expect me to answer that. I suppose he seemed more boyish and accessible?"

"But now that you're like, an adult, and you've seen us in real life, I'm hotter, right?" James questioned.

Brooke threw a pillow at him. "You're only allowed to ask one question! Wait until your next turn!"

Carlos looked at the blonde and asked "Brooke! Truth or dare!"

"Truth again, I guess?"

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Brooke glanced down for a moment, running a hand through her blonde curls before admitting. "I used to. That was sort of me and my ex boyfriend. But clearly that didn't work out. So, I guess, I don't know if I still believe in it or not."

It was then Callie's turn, and she knew that she owed it to Delia to do what she was about to do. After all, Delia could've easily outed her virginity and didn't. It was the least she could do. "Logan, truth or dare?"

"Truth." He shrugged.

Her eyes narrowing, she asked "Why did you make such a big deal about Delia being a virgin?"

Logan started stuttering and sputtering out random syllables in shock. "Ah, ba, well, I mean, that is, I guess, I don't…I guess she just didn't seem like the type of girl to wait to me?"

"And there's a type of girl who waits?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Logan threw his hands up in defense. "Hey, what happened to the one question at a time rule?"

"It's my turn." Brooke reminded him. "And either you answer her truthfully, or I'll dare you to."

"It's not like that!" Logan cried. "I guess that maybe I assumed that because she's basically the female James she's probably slept around a lot like he has!"

"But she's not the female me because I know I'm the cute one!" James argued, angrily pointing in Delia's direction.

Logan turned to face James now, questioning, "Is that _really_ the argument you want to have right now?"

"Maybe these games weren't such a good idea…" Brooke voiced aloud. "Any of you guys want to just watch a movie?"

The tension in the room was undoubtedly still there was Brooke slid a DVD into the player, but as the opening scrawl of Little Shop of Horrors came on the screen, the whole mood of the room mellowed. Callie had actually never seen the film before, and it was an absolutel favorite of everyone else.

Delia, Brooke and Carlos immediately began singing as Crystal, Chiffron and Ronnette out of habit. Callie hushed them and reminded them she hadn't seen the movie before, to which the three responded by getting up and continuing to sing, but also doing the choreography. Logan rolled his eyes at the display, but James was smiling and nodding the whole time.

They did finally sit back down, allowing everyone to enjoy the movie. Callie found herself diving for Delia or Logan's shoulder anytime any of the "scary parts" happened, and at the start of the last third of the movie, Carlos and James very dramatically belted Suddenly Seymore to each other, Delia and Brooke roping Logan into joining their greek chorus.

However, as soon as the song ended, Delia, screamed at the screen "DON'T DO IT AUDREY HE'S PROBABLY GAY!"

"What?" Logan asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Immediately realizing her mistake, Delia, brushed off her skirt, admitting "That…was a personal joke between my friends at home and I. Every…guy I ever dated turned out to be gay and was only using me as a beard. So anytime there's a big make out scene in a movie…we'd all yell it at the screen."

Brooke started giggling. "I'm sorry," she immediately apologized, "It's not funny and you poor thing but…really? Every single guy you've ever dated? How does that even happen?"

Stifling a giggle of her own, Delia shrugged. "Apparently I'm a fantastic beard."

* * *

When the other six arrived on set the next morning, they were surprised to find Auden and Kendall already there. When asked about the mysterious disappearance, all either had to say was "There was a score that needed to be settled." Naturally, everyone drew the conclusion that they had to buy more marshmallows and left it at that.

As Gustavo stormed onto the set, he asked "Listen up dogs – and girls who FINALLY have a name!"

Immediately, the eyes of all four members of his now-named girl group lit up.

"I need both Big Time Rush, and ABCD to actually give me some useable footage today!"

"ABCD?" Brooke repeated. "Is that us?"

Kelly, who'd entered with Gustavo, smiled. "Yup! Auden, Brooke, Callie, Delia, or, ABCD!"

Glancing at the other girls in the group, Callie smiled "I like it."

"So how did last night go?" Kelly asked.

"Please tell me you'll all get along today." Gustavo almost sounded like he was begging, which caused them all to be a little confused.

With a smirk, James answered, "Well we all know Delia had a big ol crush on Logan."

Delia jabbed James in his lower ribs with her elbow, before turning and smiling sweetly towards Gustavo again.

"It was a little weird at first," Carlos admitted, "but then we watched a movie and the weird kind of went away!"

"Well, let's hope the not-weird shows up on camera." Gustavo mumbled, before yelling, "PLACES!"

The video opened on all eight standing sideways, doing simple choreography as soft " _Do do dos_ " could be heard.

It then cut to Brooke on the stool, singing,

" _Hello friend, it's me again  
I just called to tell you,  
Even though I miss you so  
I've been thinking of you  
All my dreams are coming true, at last...oooh_"

The camera panned to Carlos on his stool, singing

" _The perfect ending to a wonderful year  
Will be to celebrate the good times with you here  
Cause I know,_ _  
For sure,_ _  
I never wanted anything more"_

As Kendall and Auden's voices blended on the chorus, the footage jumped from the two of them singing on their stools to Callie playfully throwing the fake snow at Brooke, Carlos carrying Delia around on piggy back, and Logan and James decorating a Christmas tree.

" _The greatest gift that there could be  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you  
Though the winter seems so long  
My faith in love has kept me strong  
So if I had a wish come true  
I'd send the perfect Christmas with you"_

Cutting back to the stools, Logan sang,

" _I can't wait  
Till the day  
When I finally see you  
So hold on  
I wont be long  
Got so much to show you  
All our dreams are coming true at last...ooh_"

It panned over to Callie as she sang,

" _The perfect ending to a wonderful year  
Would be celebrate the good times with you here  
Cause I know  
For sure  
I never wanted anything more_"

On the chorus this time, while alternating shots of Kendall and Auden singing again, Kendall and Carlos were shown throwing fake snowballs at each other, Callie and Brooke were seen making "snow angels", and Delia and Auden strung lights on the tree that James and Logan had been decorating.

" _The greatest gift that there could be  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you_"

It cut back to the stools again as James belted a _"Woah woah"_

As Delia and James sang together, it cut to shots of Carlos & Brooke, Kendall & Auden, Logan & Callie and James & Delia each meeting under the mistletoe, all looking up and getting what Kelly deemed was adorably embarrassed

" _So when you ask me what I mean  
To me the Christmas is complete"_

It cut back to the stools again for Delia to sing

" _Boy can't you see"_

Followed by James belting

" _You're the one thing missing for me"_

As Kendall and Auden's voices could be heard on the chorus again, the video showed Brooke and Auden snacking on gingerbread cookies, Logan and Kendall drinking cocoa out of warm mugs, Callie and Delia handing the others candy canes, while James attempted to lift Carlos up to put the star at the top of the tree.

" _The greatest gift that there could be_ _  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you  
Though the winter seems so long  
My faith in love has kept me strong  
So if I had a wish come true  
I'd send the perfect Christmas"_

It cut to Auden back on her stool as she sang alone

" _And if I had one wish come true..."_

As Auden and Kendall sang the line _"_ _I'd spend the perfect Christmas here..."_ together, it cut to a short snippet of each of the four "couples" who'd been under the mistletoe earlier leaning in to kiss each other, each getting increasingly closer, before it cut back to Kendall on his stool, as he sang the last _"with you…"_

While more soft _"do do dos"_ were heard and the eight were shown doing the same choreography from the beginning on the video, the camera panned up and faded in to pure white as the music faded out.

"And that!" Gustavo cried. "Is what I call a cross promotional music video!"


	5. The Halloween Chapter

**AN: HOLY POOP IS THIS ONE LONG. These chapters keep getting longer and longer. Which is a good thing I hope? Also it's the Halloween chapter! And I got it up in time for Halloween! Yay! This chapter - similar to the last - is a little more adult. So bare that in mind before going right into it. Other than that, I don't think there's much else to say, other than enjoy!**

* * *

"Congratulations," it was the first time Gustavo seemed genuinely happy towards the girls, and it was both flattering and a little unsettling. "The boards all love your Christmas video, you've finally got a name, and next week starts work on your first solo single. This all calls for a celebration!"

The excitement on the girls' faces grew and they began to cheer loudly, but were immediately halted as Kelly warned "You may want to wait until he tells you what kind of celebration he has in mind." At this, the girls deflated.

"I want you girls to go out to an industry Halloween party. Big movers and shakers of the music industry will all be there, but more importantly-" Gustavo paused for dramatic effect "-so will the paparazzi. We need to get your girls seen."

"The boys will also be there!" Kelly added, a cheerful ring to her voice. "So Callie and James will have a prime opportunity to pose for the paparazzi!"

Callie let out a whine "Do I really have to spend my first Hollywood party with him? Can't I just spend this first one with just the girls?"

"Of course you can't!" Was Gustavo's immediate reply. "The whole point if for you to be seen with James! You get press, we get album sales!"

Kelly nodded "He's got a point. And it would be a big help to the boys' album sales, too."

"Why do the boys need our help with album sales?" Callie questioned, crossing her arms over her chest "Aren't they the biggest name the record company has right now?"

"And who says we even want to help them?" Auden added, leaning on Callie's shoulder with her elbow.

With a blink, Brooke responded "Uh, we do. They're actually super nice and I like them all a lot."

"I'm just saying that we should have been consulted." Auden retorted, nose in the air.

Delia then interrupted "Well I, for one, am delighted to be given this opportunity, both to promote our own band but also to assist in maintaining higher record sales for other groups here at Roque Records."

"Does she come with an off switch?" Auden asked. Callie shook her head.

Raising her hand, as though she was in a high school classroom, Brooke then questioned "So, since it's a Halloween party, are we supposed to like, wear costumes?"

"Of course!" Kelly replied. "And we'll have someone take you girls shopping, since I'm assuming you didn't bring costumes with you when you moved to LA."

"That won't be necessary," Delia started, before realizing all of the other girls were staring at her. "For me, at least?" she tried.

"When did you have time to go costume shopping?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Delia merely tilted her head to the side. "I fail to see how that's relevant. I have a costume prepared so I, personally, don't require a shopping trip. But I do hope you ladies have a wonderful time."

"O..kay…then…" Kelly was a little off put by Delia's nature, but then, she always had been. "If Auden, Brooke and Callie want to come with me we'll get you all taken care of!"

* * *

After stopping at a few thrift stores and costume shops not far from Roque Records, the girls all had purchased their costumes for the night's festivities. After going home and doing their hair and makeup, that night they all stepped into the club sporting very different looks.

Auden's hair had been tied into a loose braid, which she'd placed over her shoulder. It sat on the black open vest she wore over a long sleeved, manila colored shirt that she paired with a pair of fairly tight fitting denim pants and black boots. She wore a loose hanging belt, and had her phone in case that looked like a plastic gun, and was proudly telling anyone that if they've seen a Wookie to send it her way.

Brooke's hair, meanwhile, was curled and placed into low pigtails, a small red ribbon tied around each. She wore a black lace dress under a red silk cape, and despite the black kitten heels on her feet she swore up and down that she was Little Red Riding Hood.

Callie hadn't actually done much to style her hair other than add some mousse, and then hairspraying her natural waves into place. In a black leather catsuit and tall black boots she deemed herself Marvel's Black Widow, even if Auden argued that "Black Widow wouldn't show that much boob".

And speaking of showing boob, nobody even knew Delia _had_ that much boob until she donned a low cut, green corset body covered with fake leaves over nothing but green tights – wearing green heels and green gloves that were also covered in leaves, her long red hair merely curled with small pink flowers pinned throughout.

Giving Delia the once over again, Callie couldn't help but ask again "And you just – had that with you?"

And Delia gave the taller girl the same answer as every other time she'd inquired about it. "Yes."

Ignoring the other two, Auden turned to the blonde next to her and asked "And you're sure you're cool with sober driving?"

Brooke smiled and nodded warmly "Of course! I wasn't going to drink much any way. I'd rather make sure you're all safe and taken care of."

"Did someone say safe?!" Came the cry of Carlos, throwing his around Brooke's middle, enveloping her in a hug from behind. He was dressed in full Superman garb, down to a fake muscle suit under the costume. "As protector of this planet it's my duty to ensure everyone is safe from danger!"

"What about the danger of alcohol poisoning?" Brooke laughed, shaking him off of her shoulders.

"Speaking of Posion!" he then turned his attention to the redhead "Why didn't you tell me? I could've been Batman instead! We could've taken squad selfies!"

Hands on her hips, Callie answered before Delia had a chance to "And apparently she just had this Poison Ivy costume laying around…"

"No she didn't." Logan replied, wrinkling his nose up and shaking his head. He'd simply torn up some clothes and had Katie do some monster movie magic with makeup to have him appear as a zombie. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere."

"Where do you think you might recognize me from?" Delia inquired, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"The Facebook page for last year's ComicCon." He replied simply. "You and a friend went as Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy and your photo got featured on their page."

"You mean to tell Delia brought a fucking cosplay with her to California?!" Auden asked, throwing her hand on Logan's shoulder while laughing uproariously.

With a shrug, Logan surmised. "Seems that way. After all, she would've had to bring it all the way here for ComicCon."

Wanting to escape the conversation at hand, Delia pointed out "My apologies, but am I the only one who's happened to notice that Kendall and Auden are wearing the exact same thing?"

"Awww…" Carlos cooed, moving to pop up next to Kendall "It's like a couple's costume!"

Kendall rolled his eyes "It's a freak coincidence, is what it is."

Decked out in full vampire gear, James shrugged "Not that freaky. Everyone loves Star Wars."

"If it was a couple's costume, wouldn't Auden be dressed as Leia?" Logan asked.

"Oh no," Auden shook her head "If one of us is dressing up as Leia, it's Kendall."

"But we're not a couple!" Kendall cried "And this isn't a couple's costume thing!"

"Is this a lover's quarrel?" Callie mocked.

Kendall let out a frustrated groan, muttering about having to change before wandering to sit over at the bar.

As seven pairs of eyes followed him until he sat, they all turned back to each other awkwardly as they realized there really wasn't much else to see there. After a moment of awkward silence, James finally suggested "So, should we start, you know, actually dancing or something?"

Auden was the first to reply. "I'm down."

There was a murmur of agreement as the group gradually made their way to the floor, dancing to the music, Kendall eventually joining them after his previous petty meltdown.

* * *

About 90 minutes later, Logan, Brooke, Callie and Delia were the only ones still hanging out and dancing like they had been. Deciding it time for a break, Brooke let the others know that she was just heading over to the bar to have a quick sit.

Carlos, Kendall and Auden had been doing shots for the better part of the last 45 minutes. While Auden was able to hold hers well and Kendall was doing alright, poor Carlos had bitten off more than he could chew already. "BROOKE!" he cried upon seeing the blonde sit down next to Auden. "I'm so…so…so happy you're here."

"How many has he had?" she asked Auden

Auden paused, mentally calculating, before replying "About 9 shots, I think? We thought he was doing…ya know…better…"

Carlos dramatically threw his head onto Kendall's shoulder. "Kendall…Kendall…listen…I love you, man. You're my best friend. You and James and Logan, you're like…like…the best. I love you."

Kendall snorted, petting Carlos' hair like a pet cat. "I know man, I know."

Just then, a waitress put another shot in front of each of them, including Brooke. "Oh, no, thank you." The blonde replied, pushing the tiny glass back towards the woman dressed in all black. "I gotta drive." And to her surprise, in the time it took her to say that one sentence, the other three had already downed another shot. Suddenly angry, she turned to Kendall and Auden, "You two let him drink more?!"

With a slight hiccup, Kendall answered "Well, yeah. He's a grown up. He can take care of himself."

"He needs to be cut off. I thought you guys were looking out for each other!" she chastised, moving to give Carlos the cup of water she'd been sipping on before joining them.

Carlos, however, had no interested in the water, opting instead to gently claw at the ends of Brooke's pigtails, giggling. "You're hair's so pretty. It's just like your face, only it's hair. It's…sooofffttt…and…and bouncy…and…I wanna eat it…I just wanna eat your hair."

"NOOOO Carlos!" Kendall cried, swatting at his friend's arm. "You can't do that! You'll get a hairball!"

"Hairball?" James asked, as he realized he probably picked the wrong time to join his friends at the bar.

Auden shook her head, rolling her eyes as she muttered "I don't even fucking know" before taking another sip of her gin and tonic.

Slipping into the seat where Brooke has sat just moments before, James then asked "Hey, Auden, you're a girl, right?"

"I mean, last time I checked…"

Ignoring her comment, he began to rant about his current situation. "Is there something wrong with me tonight? No girl I've tried to approach has been interested! And I can't ask Callie cause we're 'dating' and I don't wanna make that any messier than it already is…"

"You wanna know what your problem is?" Auden asked raising an eyebrow. James had nodded eagerly, as she sat her drink back down, before swiveling on her stool to look him in the eye. "You're not funny. You're not cute. And we're not friends. Now leave me alone."

With a dramatic huff, he sneered "Well you're no help." Before getting up and storming off, giving a toss of his vampire cape, causing it to twirl behind him.

So focused on his dramatic exit, and because of the fact that even in heels she was still ten inches shorter than him, James didn't even see Delia until his body collided with hers. "Jesus Christ on a cracker." She muttered, blinking down at the ground, trying to refocus from the impact.

He smiled, though was genuinely surprised as he greeted "Oh hey Delia, didn't see you there!"

"No kidding." She muttered, as she went about readjusting her costume, though personally James hadn't seen anything wrong with it. It's not like her boobs fell out or anything. And why was that the first thing he thought of? He shook his head, it was a weird night.

"Oh, hey, can I ask you something?"

"Certainly."

"Why aren't girls throwing themselves at me tonight?" he asked, a whine in voice. "I mean, I'm still me! I'm still handsome! I'm still famous! Is there something in my teeth?"

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him, asking "Wait, you really don't know?"

"No!" he cried, his voice high with a new found panic. "Know what? What's wrong?"

She bit down on her lip a moment. She was always so skilled in using the proper verbage in any situation without any prompting. However, this seemed a little more delicate than her usual daily conversations. "They likely assume you aren't interested because they assume you're interested in men."

"What?!" he cried, shocked. "Why would they just go ahead and assume that?"

"The ascot." She stated plainly, as though it was the most obvious fact in the world.

Immediately he began clawing at the fabric in an attempt to get it off. "Well if that's all…"

"Stop stop stop stop!" she cried, reaching to grab his forearms in an attempt to stop his clawing. "You're going to ruin the fabric."

"Well then _you_ take it off!" he retorted, his voice a little meaner than he'd intended it.

It didn't seem to deter the girl much at all, as she agreed, "Fine." She glanced around before finding an empty barstool, which she grabbed and dragged over to where they'd just been standing. "Help me up." It was an order – not a request – as she climbed onto the stool, kneeling on it so she could be eye level, as she began to undo the ascot.

He had done as he was told – holding her by the waist in an attempt to hoist her up. His hands still resting on either side of the redhead, he rolled his eyes. "And you're sure it's the ascot?"

"I'm certain." Was her reply, focus never leaving the fabric still in a knotted mess around his neck. "Though personally, if I was any of your intended victims, you would've had me with or without the ascot."

This took James by surprise. With a slight smirk, he asked "Oh really?" as he suddenly became very aware of where his hands were still sitting, especially as he slowly let them travel a little more south.

"Mhmm," she smirked, and he swore she pushed herself a little closer, but he wasn't quite sure how because she was still kneeling on a stool "I've sort of got a thing for vampires. So this is really working for me."

"Well I aim to please." He made sure the fangs were visible in his smile as he spoke.

His hands were definitely not on her waist anymore – as he was touching tights rather than the corset - as she finally undid the ascot. As she moved her left hand down, the ascot still firmly in it's grasp, her right hand lingered on the now bare flesh of his neck and chest "It's a good thing you're not aiming to please me, particularly," she warned "because I'm having quite the difficult time controlling myself as it is right now. I can only imagine if charm was turned on, well, we'd both be in trouble."

"And who's to say that's not the kind of trouble I'd like to get into?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, letting one of his hands move a little faster, giving an almost full caress of her thigh.

"I'd hate for my cause of death to be Wrath of Callie. You're supposed to be here with her, remember?" she asked, finally moving to get down off the chair. She took his hand to help get down, and he couldn't help but feel disappointed when she dropped it upon standing upright once more. "You really shouldn't be hitting on any girls tonight."

"Right." He replied, pouting a little as he searched the crowd for a sign of the girl he was supposed to be there with. "Any chance _she_ has a thing for vampires?" he was only half-teasing, as he knew Callie really didn't want to spend any amount of time alone with him.

"Now that you've lost the ascot it's worth a shot." Delia playfully nudged his arm with her elbow. "Go see if you can woo your girlfriend."

Callie, meanwhile, wooing someone else entirely. Once Delia had left to follow Brooke, it had left Callie and Logan alone. And while they had been in a group he was able to distract himself fairly easily, now that it was just the two of them, well, Logan was starting to have the same thoughts about Callie's costume as Auden had.

Sensing his unease – but not really wanting to stop dancing (it was a good song playing, after all) – she asked "Hey, Logan, everything okay?"

"It's fine! Everything's fine!" he cried, using every ounce of his willpower to continue staring at her face. Which wasn't helping too terribly much, because, well, she was absolutely gorgeous, too.

She finally stopped dancing, as she replied "That's not something that somebody would say if everything was really fine."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you!" he cried. "There's nothing wrong!"

She crossed her arms over her chest, which had she known the circumstances, she would've realized was a bad decision on her part. "What I want you to tell me is the truth. What's going on?"

"Your outfit is making me uncomfortable!" he blurted out without thinking, immediately wincing as the words fell out of his mouth.

Eyes narrowing, she spat "Oh, a woman who's confident in her body makes you uncomfortable? What kind of misogynistic…"

"Not. That. Kind. Of. Uncomfortable." He interrupted, his head tilting to the side with each word. As the confusion on her face illustrated that she didn't quite understand, he awkwardly gestured to his pants.

Finally grasping the situation, Callie gasped "OH! Oh. Oh, my…"

"See? This is why I didn't want to tell you…" Logan whined.

Callie paused for a moment before getting an idea. It was probably a bad idea. But it was an idea, and she'd had a few drinks, and she was honestly a little horny herself - she was definitely noticing what sixteen year old Delia had as the night went on - so she was going for it. "I mean, it's not a bad thing. We should…explore this…" she suggested, smirking as she began walking closer towards him, like a lioness hunting her prey.

"That is not a great idea!" Logan countered, leaning back in fear.

A slight pout graced her lips, but she didn't stop closing in on him as she asked "Why not?"

"Not that you're not…absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous and that if the circumstances were different…it's just…James…"

Immediately Callie rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I am so sick of James! And I'm sick of pretend dating him!" she pushed herself against Logan suddenly, her lips so close to his that her breath was warm against his mouth as she whispered "I want a distraction, Logan. Distract me."

"Again, would love to," he reminded, prying her off of himself awkwardly "but there are cameras literally everywhere. As much as I'd love to…explore this…as you so elegantly put it, you really should go dance with who you're supposed to be seen with." He suggested before nodding slightly and backing away, leaving Callie alone on the dance floor.

Back at the bar, Carlos was still obsessing over Brooke's blonde curls. He'd finished talking about them, however, and was no content just petting her hair. Brooke didn't mind this as much as she'd minded his drunk ramblings, so she didn't disturb him.

Unfortunately, Kendall had continued drinking, and was starting to become muddled in his thinking. "Okay. If Carlos is gettin' a hairball…" his words slurred together "…then he shouldn't hafta suffer alone! I'm a good friend! I'm gonna get a hairball too!" he proclaimed, before swiveling in his chair, picking up a straw and poking Auden with it in the arm "Hey Auden. Hey, hey Auden. Lemme just eat your hair real quick."

Without thinking, Auden replied "That's not the part of me that your mom ate last night."

"You…and…my…mom?" Kendall asked, tears suddenly welling in his eyes, before he began sobbing hysterically "How could you do this to me? Right when Carlos has a hairball?"

Auden rolled her eyes, muttering something about 'fucking lightweights' under breath as she went to take another sip of her drink but was stopped by James placing his hands on both her own shoulder and Kendall's. "Have either of you seen Callie?"

"If you can't find her it's probably cause she doesn't want to be around you." Auden replied simply, before finally getting to take another drink.

"OR SHE'S SLEEPING WITH YOUR MOM!" Kendall cried, before sobbing again.

James thought for a moment and decided "No, that's not it." Before taking off again.

Deciding it best to get a drink, just across the bar Delia was receiving her order of a sex on the beach and was about to take her first drink when Logan approached. "Having a good time?"

The man winced before deciding "I suppose you could call it that."

Drinking out of her cute little straw – careful to not smudge her lipstick – she asked "In what ways has it been unenjoyable, then?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." He huffed.

Delia shook her head "If you hadn't wished to discuss it you would've told me that, yes, you were, in fact, having a good time."

He sighed, and had opened his mouth to reply, when a piece of fabric clutched in Delia's free hand caught his eye. "What are you doing with James' ascot?"

Delia had been taking another sip when he asked the question, so she finished it briskly before responding, "Ah! Yes! He'd been wondering why girls were turning down his advances. I'd advised it was probably the ascot and took it off for him – he was incredibly helpless in getting it untied – but I did warn him that he really ought to be spending time with Callie."

"Ugh, thank you!" Logan cried. "It's like those two forget that they're supposed to be dating."

"As if they weren't told that the paparazzi would be looking for them." Delia added

Logan continued "I get not being attracted to each other but can't they at least fake it for the cameras? Or, you know, at least not flirt with other people when they know there's paparazzi all over the place?"

"Has Callie been flirting with others?" Delia honestly inquired.

Logan didn't supply a verbal answer, opting instead to nod wildly. While Delia took another sip of her drink, Logan surveyed the area, pleasantly surprised to see James and Callie standing together again. "Well, at least they're trying."

Delia followed his gaze, noticing the same thing Logan had. A warm, genuine smile replaced the usual fake one she had plastered on at all times as nodded "I'm glad."

Logan noticed this change, and quirked an eyebrow up at the girl. With both the smile and the ascot, Logan ventured that he was starting piece something together "You like him, don't you?"

Delia looked at Logan, puzzled, as she shook her head "I believe we established the fact that I really don't care for anyone last week."

With a roll of his eyes, Logan moaned "That's not what I meant and you know that."

She replied simply, after taking another sip of her cocktail. "In all honesty, all four of you are very good looking, very talented, and very pleasant people to be in the presence of. Any girl would be, hypothetically, blessed to receive the affection of any one of you."

"According to you I'm the cute one." He reminded her, smirking playfully.

"And I've only ever dated men who turned out to be gay." She teased "So take that with a grain of salt."

Across the dance floor, James had found Callie "Hey, can we talk, for a second?"

Callie shrugged "I mean, we're supposed to be spending the whole night together…"

"It's actually kind of about that." He admitted. "I know I haven't been the most tolerable person and part of that was because even though you made your intentions very clear, I was still flirting with you. Cause let's be real here, you're smoking hot and the press already agrees we make a beautiful pair."

Callie rolled her eyes as he spoke "Were you going somewhere with this?"

"I was!" James cried, pointing a finger in the air for emphasis "And I don't want to try to flirt with you anymore. It just makes things awkward for everyone. But I do think we could friends. So can we start again or something?"

Surprised, Callie nodded, smiling genuinely at James for the first time that she could remember. "Yeah, yeah I'd like that."

Meanwhile, Carlos was starting to feel sad-drunk. His stomach hurt, his head hurt, and nothing made sense. He sobbed about all of this to Brooke, who was awkwardly petting his head and hushing him with promises that everything was going to be okay. "Brooke," he sobbed "I'm so happy you're my friend. You take such good care of me. I love you so much."

"Shhhh, it's okay. I'm happy we're friends too." Her words were basically on autopilot at this point.

Carlos continued to sob into her shoulder "And I don't just love you in a friend way! You're so nice and so pretty and I just wanna hold your hand and give you kisses…"

"Carlos, sweetie," she continued, her tone just as soothing as before "You're really, really drunk right now. You shouldn't be telling people you love them."

Kendall – who'd been watching the whole ordeal – swiveled his chair back towards Auden, an arm awkwardly jutting out as he drunkenly gestured towards where Carlos and Brooke were seated "That could be us but you playin'" he slurred.

Auden reached out, bopping Kendall on the head a few times, before telling him "You're such a fucking lightweight, Knight."

"Am not." he sneered.

She'd rolled her eyes and moved to stand up, and that was the last thing she remembered.

* * *

Auden awoke the following afternoon with a splitting headache, and it wasn't just the usual one she got from over drinking. She moved to get up, but the splitting pain in her head was preventing her to do much more than prop herself up on one of the elbows.

Suddenly, Brooke was sitting on the edge of the couch Auden had been lying on. "Oh good, you're up." She smiled gently "How're you feeling?"

"Like hell." Auden moaned "What exactly happened?"

Brooke's smile faded as she recounted the previous night's event. "You'd been talking to Kendall, and I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but you blacked out. Hit the floor pretty hard. Luckily everyone was nearby, Callie and James pretty much carried you into the car. When you didn't wake up right away you had us all pretty worried."

"I don't know what happened." Auden confessed "Like, I know I'm under aged and whatever, but this isn't new for me. I've never blacked out before."

"Well I guess that's one more shot you'll have to take in Never Have I Ever" Brooke joked lightly, delicately rubbing the end of Auden's leg from over the blanket. "I'm glad you're okay now. I'm sure everyone else will be too. Kendall was really worried. He kept drunk dialing us to make sure you weren't dead."

"That smug son of a bitch," she muttered "He did it. He out drank me."

"He didn't seem very smug." Brooke informed her. "He seemed really genuinely worried. Not everything in life is a competition, you know."

"I know," Auden sighed "I just have difficulty remembering that sometimes."

Brooke nodded, before asking "Do you need anything? I know you've only just woken up, but if there's anything I can do…"

The blonde was cut off by Auden assuring her "I'm okay. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." A small smile spread on her lips as she added "but, thanks. For everything. And for taking care of me when I wasn't behaving like such a big girl."

"I'm just happy you're okay." Brooke smiled. Suddenly her eyebrows raised as she remembered "Oh! I made you some soup! I'm not sure what your personal hangover cure is, but hopefully this will help!"

Auden couldn't help but let out a chuckle "You are literally a saint. Unless it's pea soup. That would make you Satan."


	6. Domo Arigato

**AN: And here we have another chapter! I really didn't think I was going to be able to get another chapter out this week, but here we are! Building some friendships and some relationships in this chapter, which is lots of fun! And we get our first kiss of the story which is always a highlight! Also shoutout to safeDbeginswithS for Auden's new nickname for Delia, hahaha. Nothing else really noteworthy to mention, other than just wanting to thank everyone for the continued support and positive feedback! This story has been so well received so far and honestly your enjoyment of the story is what keeps me going! Enjoy!**

* * *

"That'll be it for today." Gustavo spoke into the mic to the girls behind the glass "You can go home."

They'd been recording a song – finally a song of their own. ABCD had the talent, had a name, and finally had their first single to work on. As the girls filed out, the three shortest members had their eyes glued to their phones. "Hey Gustavo," Callie asked, "Hypothetically if James and I were to go on a 'date' to the movies in like two hours would you be able to get the press there in time?"

"Are you two actually dating now or something?" Gustavo asked, raising an eyebrow "Last I heard you were trying to set him on fire."

Callie sighed "We're trying to get along. And we both really want to see the last Hunger Games movie."

"What time is it playing?" Brooke asked "Carlos and I have been trying to set up an actual date for like three days."

Auden turned to Delia, asking "When did Brooke and Carlos start dating?" Auden was only met with a shrug, before Delia's eyes turned back to her phone, as she giggled at either the text she just received or the one she'd just sent. Knowing what she knew about Delia, she went ahead and assumed it was the latter.

Gustavo, meanwhile, was still focused on Callie's original question. "I'll make some calls. Now go home." As the girls happily filed out, Auden, who'd been in the back of the line up, felt a hand on her shoulder as Gustavo muttered "Not you."

"If this is about what happened to that gift basket on your desk yesterday it was like that when I got there but I _did_ see Kendall lurking around…"

"What?" Gustavo asked, not sure if he should be mad about this new thing, or focus on the matter at hand. He shook his head "No, just, never mind. We'll come back to that." He gestured for her to take a seat, which she did, albeit by spinning the chair around and straddling it backwards. "We need to have a talk. From one alpha to another."

"I appreciate you recognizing my status." She nodded.

He sighed, before confessing "Look, I may find you nearly impossible to work with, but you _are_ talented. Really talented. You're the best singer in the group, you have the biggest personality, and you look good on camera. But you need to learn how to dance. You're holding the others behind."

Auden merely shrugged "Never been much of a dancer. Not sure what you expect me to do."

"I expect you to ask one of the other girls to teach you. You seem to get along fine with Brooke, why not ask her? Or Callie?"

Auden shifted a little uncomfortably in her chair before admitting "Brooke's done too much for me lately. I really don't want to imbalance that more than I have to. And Callie's sort of got a lot on her plate right now."

"Okay, what about Delia?" he suggested.

The girl looked at him like he was crazy "The little baby pigeon?"

"Look, I don't care who you get to do it, just get it done." He stated, before getting up and gesturing to the door.

* * *

A few hours later, James and Callie were exiting the movie theatre. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" James questioned, genuinely smiling. "I'm sorry for being so…what's the word you used?"

"Obnoxious." Callie supplied.

"…well, that, before. Because I actually enjoyed that."

Cracking a smile, Callie confessed "I sort of did, too. It probably helped that we didn't really have to pay attention to each other."

"Maybe we can just tell Gustavo to only set up movie dates from now on." He smirked. "We get free movies and the press is none the wiser!"

Callie had opened her mouth to reply, but immediately shut it when something across the street caught her eye. "I must be seeing things…"

"What?" James, clearly, was confused by the sudden derailment of the conversation.

She didn't answer, instead grabbing James by the wrist and yanking him over into a nearby bush, gesturing her head to what she was referring to. "That! That is who I think it is, isn't it?"

"First of all if we're going to be spying on people in bushes we really should be using tree hats…" his voice trailed off, however, when he caught sight of what Callie was referring to. Across the street from the bush where James and Callie were currently hiding sat Logan and Delia on a bench. Rather than sitting facing the road, they had their bodies turned to face each other – as Delia said something that made Logan laugh so hard that the milkshake he'd been drinking shoot out of his nose. "Logan and Delia are hanging out, what's the big deal?"

"What's the big deal?!" Callie asked, her voice a frighteningly harsh whisper. "They aren't just 'hanging out', James. Look at how they're sitting! Look at how she's cleaning his face for him!" she thrusted her arm towards their friends on the bench, and Delia was, in fact, trying to dab off the milkshake on his face with her napkin. It looked like Logan was protesting, but there was an undeniable smile on both of their faces "They're on a date!"

James merely blinked, before asking "So? We were just on a date, and you don't see Kendall and Brooke hiding in the bushes."

"A _real_ date, James."

James simply shrugged "I don't see what the big deal is. They're kinda cute."

Suddenly, something clicked in Callie's mind. "So that's why he didn't want to kiss me…"

"Woah woah woah…" James interrupted, hands popping to his shoulders. "You tried to kiss Logan? But _I'm_ your boyfriend!"

"First of all, no you're not." she replied, sticking a finger in this face "Secondly, if I would've known he was getting it on with Delia I wouldn't have tried!" Callie argued.

James rolled his eyes "They're not getting it on."

"You know what I mean." She hissed.

"Look," James whispered back "Just because you're a little jealous doesn't mean there's anything wrong with what they're doing. If they really are dating it seems to me like a little jealousy is the worst that's going to come out of it. So what's the problem?"

Callie pouted. James was right, and she absolutely hated herself for admitting that.

* * *

Meanwhile, across town, Brooke and Carlos were finally able to sit down alone for the first time since the whole Halloween incident. They were seated on the same park bench they'd been seated on just a few weeks ago, when he'd unknowingly given her the confidence to stand up to the constant bickering she'd been forced to endure by the other three members of ABCD. She was half mindedly sipping on a smoothie as Carlos finished "…and that's when I learned that rocket skates don't work under water."

With another ship of the smoothie, Brooke turned to him and sighed, before confessing "Carlos, I love hanging out with you and everything, but there's something we really gotta talk about."

And suddenly, the childlike wonder and endless positivity that seemed to radiate off of him drained entirely from his eyes. "Let me guess," he stated simply, "It's not me, it's you, or I'm a great guy and I'm going to make some girl really really happy someday, or there's someone else…"

"What?!" Brooke questioned, her eyes wide as one of her hands instinctively flew up to rest on his shoulder "Carlos what are you talking about?"

He looked to her, a sad smile on his face as he explained "I know I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box, but I'm not stupid. I knew someone like you with someone like me was too good to be true."

"None of what you're saying right now makes any sense." She shook her head wildly, trying to grasp why this was what he thought she had meant. "There's nobody else, and I really, really want to give this a try. It's just…I know you were really drunk on Halloween. But do you remember anything you said? At all?"

He shook his head, a pout on his lips. "I don't. Was it important? I'm sorry."

She paused for a moment, before deciding, "It wasn't important. Not really. But you hadn't even really told me you liked me, and then once you were drunk, you were…rather affectionate."

With a soft smile, he offered "I can be affectionate sober too if you want."

The hand that Brooke had rested on his shoulder slowly moved to capture his hand in hers "I just want to make sure that you're not rushing into anything too quickly."

When her hand held his, the light that had drained just moments ago had come back, brighter than before. He chuckled, "Well, I've sort of been known to _Big Time Rush_ into quite a few things." He gently nudged her forearm with his elbow. "But I've known since I met you, really, that this is something that I want to happen. And if you ever think I should slow down, just let me know. Cause I really like you, Brooke."

She smiled, moving to interlace her fingers in his. "I like you, too. A lot. And I'm glad we're doing this."

Carlos' smile grew, squeezing her hand as he asked, his voice hopeful, full of joy and innocence "Hey Brooke, would it be alright if I kissed you? Like not on the lips or anything but-" he was interrupted by the sudden warmth of Brooke's lips against his. While he wasn't as experienced with kissing and romance as his friends were, a hand still instinctively moved to cup the bottom of face gently. As moments passed, they broke away gently, as Carlos sputtered out "-or on the lips is, yeah, okay, that's fantastic. Works for me."

* * *

It was the next day, and Auden was in the dance studio. She'd been working for about two hours before she flung herself on the ground dramatically. "This is it. This is how I die. Remember me fondly."

"You were the one who asked for my help." James reminded her, as he moved to squat next to her. "If you want to give up now I'll gladly be on my way."

While still lying face down on the floor, Auden stuck a finger in the boy's face. "First of all, I only asked you to help because Gustavo's forcing me to dance better. And secondly, I don't give up. I just take a lot of breaks."

"Breaks don't make you a good dancer!" he argued, swatting her finger away. "Not even a good break dancer!"

"Just give me another seven minutes…" she groaned.

"Fine." He sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes as he picked up his phone and moved to actually sit comfortably next to where the girl was lying. Upon looking at his text messages, he rolled his eyes again. "Can you believe Callie actually thinks Logan and Delia are dating?"

Auden's head suddenly perked up a little as she asked "Wait, what?"

"We saw them hanging out the other day and now Callie is obsessed with following them around and sending me pictures for some reason. As if Logan wouldn't tell us if he started dating her. Callie's just mad cause she has a crush on Logan." James explained.

"Callie and Logan?" Auden repeated, "Logan and Delia make way more sense, they're both huge nerds."

"I don't know what she sees in him…" James sighed wistfully.

"You don't know what Callie sees in him or you don't know what Delia sees in him?" Auden questioned.

"Well, both!" James cried. "I mean, Callie's supposed to be dating me already, and I made it pretty clear to Delia that I'm available, and then they _both_ turn me down for him?"

A smirk appeared on Auden's face as she peeled herself off the ground, readjusting to sit next to James. "Hold up. You have a thing for Delia? Like little baby pigeon Delia?"

"No!" he cried defensively. "She's just hot and I wanted to have sex with her! I still can't stand her as a person! If she even is a person, I'm still not convinced she's not a robot."

Immediately, the smirky, jokey vibe Auden had been transmitting changed, bolting upright, she questioned, her tone deadly serious "So I'm not the only one who's noticed?"

James chuckled awkwardly, entirely unsure of what was happening. "Noticed what?"

"That Delia's not human. My money was on alien, but robot make so much more sense!"

James' eyes widened "Do you have like, proof or anything?"

"Think about it! How much do any of us know about her, really? And the super fake personality? And her hair is always perfect and she always smells nice but I've never seen her take a shower." Auden supplied.

"Oh my god," James gasped "I can't believe I was turned on by a robot!"

Auden began pacing around the room "We'll need more proof before we try to convince anyone else. But we'll have to act quickly. Sure she's nice and ridiculously polite now, but one day she will try to rise above us! James, we're going to have follow her."

Nodding in agreement, James promised "I'll get us some tree hats."

* * *

And that was how James and Auden ended up crouched behind the same bush James and Callie had been hiding in just one day previous. They both wore tree hats and had binoculars in their hands. "Remember," Auden instructed "Any non typical human behavior is helpful. If you get eyes on her doing anything out of the ordinary start taking pictures."

"Got it." He nodded, still trying to find their target.

According to the daily agenda filled out in her handwriting that Auden had found in their apartment, Delia was supposed to be meeting Logan at the same small ice cream shop they'd met at the day previous. They'd been watching the door for about three minutes when a short redhead with overly large sunglasses dressed in tight black high waisted pants and a white tank top with black polka dots emerged holding two milkshakes. "Found her!" Auden cried triumphantly, before grabbing James' head and turning it to where the redhead was standing.

Swatting Auden's hand away, he refocused on where Delia was, following her every move which, much to his disappointment, seemed very human-like. She'd taken a sip of the vanilla milkshake, prompting James to ask "Can robots eat human food?"

"It probably goes straight to some kind of trash compartment." Auden reasoned. "Whoever built her was very good at their job. She needs to appear as human as possible to infiltrate us. Gain our trust."

It was at that moment that Logan had also spotted Delia, making his way over to where she was standing, grabbing the strawberry milkshake out of her other hand. "You know," James began, "I bet if we can convince Logan that she's a robot, he could fix her. Rearrange some wires and make her a nice robot who won't attack us."

Auden's eyes went wide with a sudden realization "That's probably why she's being so nice to him! James, don't you see? She's pulling the wool over his eyes! She's building this relationship with him so that he'll be too emotionally attached to ever destroy her!"

James gasped "She's so evil!"

"She must be stopped." Auden nodded.

"And just why are we calling Delia evil?"

The two tallest members of their respective bands glanced up to see Callie, her arms crossed over her chest, shaking her head disapprovingly. Auden quickly grabbed her elbow and yanked her down "Get down! They'll see you!"

"And put on a tree hat!" James hissed, slapping another hat onto Callie's head.

"I thought that the whole Delia and Logan thing didn't bother you," Callie quipped "Didn't you say they were kind of cute? Big talk for someone who's spying on them and didn't even bother to invite me."

"This has nothing to do with Logan!" James whispered harshly. "There are larger things at stake!"

Callie rolled her eyes, "What, like your crush on Delia?"

"I wanted to have sex with her, that doesn't mean I like her!" he whined. Suddenly, his eyes widened "Wait, I never told you about that!"

Callie smirked "Ever since Halloween you've made it pretty obvious. And don't delude yourself into thinking it's all about sex."

"Well it is!" he argued.

"Seriously, you'd fuck a robot?" Auden questioned "That's messed up. I mean, an alien, maybe, but a robot?"

James rolled his eyes "Auden, we're not having this discussion again. I'd fuck hot robot Delia over an alien anyday, but if it was hot robot Delia vs hot alien Delia…"

"What are you even talking about?" Callie asked

Auden supplied "Delia's a robot." James nodded wildly in agreement.

Staring at both Auden and James blankly, Callie muttered a quick "uh huh…so…" she shook her head "assuming Delia's a robot, which she's not, by the way, what were you planning on doing with this information?"

"Well ideally I'd like to tell Logan so he can go all computer nerd and fix up her wires so she doesn't go rogue and kill us!" James answered in a surprisingly earnest and upbeat tone.

Auden shrugged as she explained "I'm honestly not above selling this information to the press."

Callie shook her head again "I can't believe you two. So Delia's a little different, and you automatically make the jump to robot? And start spying on her to get proof? You're horrible human beings. Delia's a nice enough person."

"First of all, we'd don't definitively know if she's a person yet," Auden argued "And second of all, you're not one to talk! So we're bad people for spying on her, but what are you doing here? Same thing as us, that's what! Only instead of scientific inquiry, you're here because you're jealous of the fact that maybe Logan likes someone else - while you're supposed to be dating James anyway! So who's _really_ the horrible human being here?"

"You two!" Callie argued, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "None of my reasons for spying are hurtful to anyone! What do you think Delia would do if she found out you two are telling people she's a robot?"

James' eyes widened in terror "Probably try to dispose of the evidence…" he let out a high pitched shriek, before crying "Auden! I'm too young to die!"

Auden slapped James in the face "Pull it together! They'll hear you!"

Callie rolled her eyes, and stood back up, walking away, as she muttered "I'm done with this nonsense." Before throwing the tree hat back at James.

* * *

In all honesty, Logan had been surprised when he'd received Callie's text. She hadn't ever really texted him before outside of a group chat. And asking to meet with him alone? Well, he had all the reason in the world to be nervous. After all, the last time they were 'alone' – in the middle of a crowded club – things had gotten a little too close for comfort.

As he sat on the park bench, mindlessly kicking all the little pebbles under his feet, he'd instinctively reached to check his phone. He was a second away from asking Delia for advice on what to do should Callie attempt to incite something again, but he refrained from doing so upon seeing the woman in question herself. "Hey," Callie smiled, moving to sit on the opposite side of the bench, "Thanks for agreeing to meet with me."

Logan chuckled softly before replying "Well what are _friends_ for?"

Running a hand through her hair, Callie sighed "Look, I think it's best of we just, you know, talk through this."

"I don't think there's anything to talk about." Logan replied honestly. "You're dating James, and it needs to stay that way. End of discussion."

"No, not end of discussion." Callie's voice was suddenly harsher, more aggressive "What happened on Halloween, it was more than just sexual on my end. And I have a feeling it was like that on yours too. But whatever this is you have going on with Delia…you should've just told me then."

Logan scrunched his nose up as he asked "What? Delia and I didn't even start hanging out until after that happened."

"But are you two just 'hanging out'?" Callie questioned "Because if there's something more there, I'll back off. I wouldn't ever try to take another girl's boyfriend."

He sighed, kicking more pebbles from under his feet "Callie…" he shook his head. "When I told you I would if the circumstances were different, I wasn't lying. You're a smart, interesting, gorgeous woman. But the press thinks you're dating James, which is just too big of a risk right now. Especially where ABCD hasn't even released your first song yet." He paused, moving to take her hand in his. "And, no, Delia and I aren't dating. But I can't promise you that someday we won't be. She's no you, of course, but she is attractive, and we actually get along really well, and she thinks I'm the cute one," he laughed a little at his own joke, shaking his head "But whatever happens there, as long as you and James are supposed to be together, nothing can happen between you and me. It's what's best for everyone."

"Well what about me, hmm?" Callie asked, doing her best to suppress the anger growing, as she ripped her hand from his. "I'm supposed to go on pretending to date someone I don't like while the guy I do like is sitting here within my reach? Waiting for me? How is that what's best for me?"

"Your career needs to come first. Think of the other girls! If we were to start something and the press caught wind of it, ABCD would over before you ever really began!" he argued, before sighing, and shaking his head "Just…trust me on this. If things were meant to happen between us, then someday maybe they will. But for now, it's just not in the cards. And I know you understand that."

* * *

The next day's dance rehearsal had gone a lot better, now that James and Auden finally had a shared interest. As they exited the studio, James had given her a high five, proclaiming "Way to go, Cassleman! You'll be a dancer yet!"

She'd smiled and offered a small "Thanks man" before turning to head in the opposite direction, only to be stopped by Kendall, who'd been sitting on a couch just around the corner.

"Auden, hey, feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" he proclaimed, letting out an awkward laugh as he moved to stand.

She shrugged "Been busy."

"Can we, you know, talk?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets awkwardly.

Auden rolled her eyes groaning "This isn't going to be about your feelings again is it?"

"That was one time!" Kendall cried, before sheepishly muttering "But um, yeah, yeah it is."

"Gross." Auden muttered "Fine, okay, let's get this over with."

"I mean," Kendall shrugged "It's not even that big of a deal, you know, I was just sort of surprised when James said he was teaching you how to dance and it was the first I'd heard about it…"

Auden had to stifle a giggle "Wait a hot second, are you seriously jealous of the fact that I asked James and not you?"

"I'm just a good of a dancer as he is!" Kendall whined. "And last I heard you didn't even like James, and now all of a sudden you're buddy buddy enough to have him teach you how to dance?"

"Bro…" Auden shook her head "I asked James to teach me _because_ I don't like him."

This had honestly taken Kendall by surprise "Huh?"

"Dude, if I would've asked you to teach me we would've ended up ditching to get pizza or to teepee Gustavo's car and I wouldn't have actually learned anything." She explained, before moving to punch his arm "You should be taking the fact that I didn't ask you as a compliment."

"Oh!" Kendall replied, genuinely shocked by this explanation. "Well, cool, thanks. And I guess, I mean, if we're being honest here," he looked down to his feet before admitting "Carlos has been spending all of his time with Brooke and Logan's been spending all of his time with Delia and then when you and James start hanging out it's like all five of my best friends were hanging out without me."

Auden quirked an eyebrow, genuinely touched as she asked "I'm one of your five best friends?"

"Well yeah." Kendall shrugged again "I mean, you don't drunkenly break into Roque Records and then fall asleep in Gustavo's office with someone who's not your best friend."

"I told him about the gift basket, by the way." Auden smirked.

"Rude!" he cried, it now being his turn to punch her in the arm "Some friend you turned out to be!"

Auden rolled her eyes, before genuinely offering "But hey, if you wanna hang out, James and I are meeting up to spy on Delia tonight."

"Spy on Delia?" he questioned.

"We're gathering proof that she's a robot." Auden explained with a nod.

Kendall's eyes widened "I thought there was something a little off with her!"


	7. Heard It Through The Grapevine

**AN: So. Not a big of a fan of this chapter as I have been the previous ones. It's okay, I guess? It moves the plot along? Anyway, it's here and it's done and we can move along to the next chapter now!**

* * *

"Gustavo!" James cried, his voice high and panicky while slamming a gossip magazine down on his desk "What the hell is this?!"

Gustavo took a glance at the magazine, before rather blandly stating "Looks like Delia and some guy."

And he wasn't wrong – the cover story was Delia being lifted off the ground into a hug by a tall, sinewy blonde man around the same age. There was a small blurb about TV's Austin Stevens and one of Gustavo Roque's newest artists seen out together and acting very intimate.

"Exactly!" Callie cried, moving in front of James and pointing her finger to the smaller square that had both her own face and James' "We were supposed to be on the front page!"

"I can't help what gossip mongers find interesting." Gustavo stated plainly.

"But she shouldn't be dating somebody!" James cried, his voice just as high pitched, as he motioned between himself and Callie "That's _our_ thing!"

Gustavo slowly raised an eyebrow as he asked "So, you want me to not let anyone else in either of your bands date anyone because it's 'your thing'?"

"Exactly!" James cried, thankful, as he thought Gustavo understood where he was coming from.

Callie then interjected "Look, I know how crazy we must sound, but this was your idea. James and I are only 'dating' to get press for our bands, and now Delia's getting press all on her own by being allowed to date whoever she wants."

Gustavo rolled his eyes "You're worrying about nothing. Delia and this guy probably aren't even dating. Hollywood likes to spin any story they can. That's why the story of you two is carefully under my control. In a few days everyone will know that this Austin guy and Delia are just friends and you two will have the cover stories again."

James then tilted his head towards Callie "He does have a point, you know. This time last week you were convinced that Delia was dating Logan."

"And you were convinced she's a robot." Callie quipped.

"We still don't know for sure that she isn't!" James argued.

Gustavo rolled his eyes "You two are being ridiculous. Delia's not a robot, she's not dating Logan, and I'd bet she's not dating this guy, either."

"Who is he, anyway?" James asked, curiosity suddenly peaking as he lifted the magazine back off of Gustavo's desk.

Callie latched onto James' forearm to peer over for herself "That's a good point, I can't say I recognize him."

A quick Google search provided the information that he was the star of a new supernatural teen drama that had started that year. He played a typical high school student who was also the town's top defense in fending off zombies, werewolves, vampires, and other such creatures.

"If he was playing a vampire or zombie or something I'd get it." James had stated to Callie about a half hour later as they sipped on smoothies outside of Roque Records, still trying to figure out a way to get back to being the cover story. "But I have no idea what she sees in this guy. He seems really boring."

"Are you looking at him or at his character?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow, "Because Delia and Austin actually have a lot in common. They're both from Orlando, and they both love musicals and old movies."

"It sounds like you're the one with a crush on him," James teased. "or maybe her."

Callie rolled up the magazine they'd been looking at earlier and swatted him in the arm. "Enough of this, anyway. We're not going to get on the front cover by sitting around doing nothing. Time to stop focusing on them, and start focusing on how to wow the press."

* * *

Meanwhile, Kendall was hanging out in the girls' apartment, eating all of their peanut butter. Auden was the only one home, and she was still hyperfocused on the _other_ Delia situation, so she didn't seem to notice. However, Kendall did notice the change in tension right before Auden muttered "I can't believe James said he'd fuck a robot."

Immediately, he began choking on his spoonful of chunky peanut butter. "He said _what_?!"

"He said as long it was a hot robot like Delia he'd still fuck it." She explained. "But he wouldn't fuck an alien. What kind of backwards logic is that?"

"Wait," Kendall questioned "Are you saying you wouldn't fuck a robot, but you would fuck an alien?"

"Damn right." Auden nodded. "Aliens are still real. They still physically feel things. Robots don't physically feel anything and they don't emotionally care about your feelings. Also aliens are probably into some sick bondage stuff."

"Okay but how cool would it be to say you fucked a robot?" Kendall questioned "Or an alien? Like they'd both make such a great story."

With a roll of her eyes Auden responded "Well yeah, if you survive!"

Kendall had opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Auden raised an eyebrow curiously as she went to answer it. To both her surprise and Kendall's, it was Carlos standing on the other side. "Hey guys!" he waved lightly "Can I come in?"

After being let inside and plopping on the couch, Auden asked "So, um, Carlos, what brings you?"

"I need some help, actually," he confessed, his nervousness written both all over his face, and oh so blatantly in his actions. His eyes were fixated on the floor as he fidgeted about more than usual. "How do you, you know, have sex?"

At the question, Kendall immediately began choking on the peanut butter again. After a short coughing fit, he managed to spit out a "What?!"

"Brooke's not a virgin, but I am." Carlos attempted to explain better "And I'm just afraid I'm gonna look like an idiot cause I don't know what I'm doing."

"Dude," Auden comforted, placing a hand on Carlos' shoulder "We all look like idiots the first time we have sex. Some people look like idiots even after that. Right Kendall?"

"That's not what's important right now!" he cried, thrusting both of his arms to motion to his friend sitting on the couch "Carlos, don't you think you might be rushing into things just a little bit here? Didn't you and Brooke like just start dating?"

Carlos shuffled a bit in his seat "Well, yeah," he confessed "But I really like her. And if she expects us to do it then I want to do it for her."

Raising an eyebrow curiously, Auden questioned "She expects you to start fucking? That doesn't sound like Brooke."

"Well, we haven't actually talked about it, but I just wanted to be prepared…"

"DUDE!" Kendall yelled, lightly hitting Carlos on the back of his head "You're sitting here asking us about it when you haven't even talked to Brooke? That's a you-and-Brooke conversation! Not a you-and-me-and-Auden conversation!"

* * *

Across town, Logan was feeling very small all of a sudden. And he was sitting next to Delia, so that was really saying something. They sat at the same ice cream shop they'd met at every day consecutively for the past nine days. Today, however, was different, as instead of their usual spot on the bench outside, he sat next to his friend on a table inside, and across from one Austin Stevens, who was surprisingly taller and bulkier than he appeared on TV. "I mean," the blonde stated again, shoving another spoonful of strawberry ice cream in his mouth, "It's just so crazy that we both ended up here."

"I know!" Delia replied, nodding intently before she took another sip of her milkshake. Finishing her sip, she continued "And I adore your show. I've been doing my best to follow it every week."

"There's some fun stuff coming up soon." Austin promised with a laugh. "And I can't wait to hear your song once it comes out. I'll definitely buy your album."

"Well our Christmas song is expected to debut very shortly!" she beamed, before gesturing to the friend sitting next to hear "We duet with Logan's band, and it's actually quite the sweet little holiday tune."

"I still can't believe you're hanging out with Logan from Big Time Rush like it's not even a thing." Austin chuckled, shaking his head, before turning to Logan and explaining "You may not know this, but Delia had quite the crush on you back in the day."

Smiling smugly, Logan answered "Oh believe me, I know. And I'm never going to let her live it down."

"I mean, and no offense, but I always fancied Kendall, but of course I couldn't tell Delia that when we were dating…"

At this, Logan began choking on his milkshake. Clearing his throat, he clarified "Wait…so…you mean…you two…"

"How else did you think we knew each other?" Austin asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Stretching out a small pale hand to rest fragilely on the tanned hand of Austin, Delia then explained "Well, we'd met though work, though I worked at the Poseidon attraction and he worked in the Wizarding World. We did date for a short period and we obviously remained good friends through it all."

"Ooh, which reminds me," Austin replied, eyes lighting up "You know David who worked with you?" Delia had nodded and Austin teased "He might just be coming out to LA to live with me…"

"Oh my gosh!" Delia squealed, "Congratulations! Truthfully, I hadn't even realized the two of you were an item, but nonetheless I'm still more than happy for the two of you."

"Well what about you?" he questioned. "You're definitely the best girl I've ever dated," he joked before commenting "Surely some great straight guy has snatched you up by now."

Nervously, a hand flew to tuck a strand of red hair behind her ear as she muttered "Well…not entirely…."

Austin tilted his head to the side in disapproval, muttering a disappointed "Delia…" before chastising "You really gotta get yourself out there. Girl, you're still my best friend, but even you have to admit it's a little pathetic. I mean, I know you're picky and have commitment issues or whatever, but come on girl. You can't keep dating gay guys. Honestly, it's getting a little sad. And I don't want to have to pity you, but…"

And suddenly, something in Logan's brain snapped. He didn't even consciously remember doing it, but he took Delia's hand in his as he blurted "Well we haven't really exactly been telling people with the paparazzi and all…"

Delia's eyes were wide with shock as she asked "Logan, what are you-"

"He's your friend, right? It's only fair he knows…"

While Delia's expression just grew more and more shocked, Austin seemed genuinely and pleasantly surprised. "Look at you, landing your high school dream guy! How many girls get to say that, huh?"

Both Logan and Delia could only laugh awkwardly.

* * *

Later that same evening, Carlos and Brooke were having an awkward conversation of their own. They'd gone out to a casual sit down restaurant. He pulled her chair out for her, he'd kissed her cheek and everything was very sweet and romantic and for all intents and purposes, she really should've felt like Cinderella. And, she did, in a way. Cinderella had that nagging stroke of midnight, and Brooke had that horrible, wretched, nagging thought.

She'd managed to push it away for the beginning of the date, and up until the time they'd ordered their food it was really nothing more than a little voice in the back of her head. A little voice that was surprisingly easy to ignore. Kind of like Delia.

But as their drinks arrived, it started to plague the blonde more and more. She waited for the waiter to leave, and she glanced around before leaning in closer, her voice lowered as she asked "Can I ask you something?"

Carlos smiled at her, shrugging as he promised "Anything."

She licked her lips slowly, before admitting "Kendall and Auden told me you were talking to them about…" she glanced around once again, before whispering the word "…sex…" she glanced around a third time, before finally asking "Is that true?"

His eyes moved from her face to his diet cola as he admitted "Well, yeah. I'm kinda worried that once we do do it that it's not going to be good for you since I don't know what I'm doing."

She sighed, moving to take his hand from across the table "Carlos, I promise you, once we do get to that point, it will be great, okay? I'll teach you. There's nothing to worry about. But I don't feel comfortable with you talking to everyone else about it and not me."

"I was embarrassed." He explained. "And I know now that I should've talked to you first…"

She gave his hand a small squeeze, as she assured him "As long as from now on, our sex life stays between you and me only, I think we'll be okay. Besides, we can cross that bridge when we get to it."

* * *

Of course, there are eyes and ears everywhere. And the next day, Delia was on the cover again. The word was out, everyone knew that Austin had dated Delia in the past but they were just friends now, but images of her holding hands with Logan started to circulate, including eye witness accounts claiming to have overheard that the two were dating but keeping it under wraps to stay out of the public eye.

When James had stored over to the girl's apartment, new magazine cover in hand, he hadn't been expecting Delia to be the one to open the door. "WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT – oh hey Delia" he calmed down a little, smiling as he asked "Is Auden around?"

"Um, yes?" she replied quirking an eyebrow. "But if it's regarding what's on the cover of what you're holding, might I suggest you might want to talk to the source directly?"

"Oh, this isn't about you." He replied simply. "I mean, it is, but it isn't."

"I see." She replied blankly, blinking up at him but not understanding at all. "Well, Auden is around somewhere. I most definitely recall seeing her."

Spying her over Delia's head – he was a good foot taller than the redhead so it wasn't a difficult task – he cried "AUDEN! We need to talk! Alone."

Eyebrows rising, Auden nodded profusely and blew past Delia who'd still been standing in the doorway, slamming the door shut on her petite frame as she locked the door from the outside. Throwing a pair of aviator sunglasses on, she began walking away from the building, motioning for James to follow her. "What've you got?"

James handed her the magazine, allowing Auden to flip through it as he explained. "Yesterday, Gustavo said that Delia wasn't dating Austin, that she wasn't dating Logan, and that she wasn't a robot. Well two of those claims are now proved false! And I have a feeling this isn't two truths and a lie."

Glancing up from the magazine, Auden questioned "So you think Gustavo knows, and you think that he's hiding it?"

James nodded "Who was the first member of your group to be chosen?"

"Delia…"

"And what's to say that Gustavo even 'discovered' her, hmm? None of you were consulted! She might be a singing dancing robot that Roque Records is keeping a secret! We'll all be out of a job! We'll be replaced by cute little talented robots just like her! They'd never have to take a sick day, they'd only have to record their vocals once! They're coming for us!"

"James," Auden gasped, before tilting her sunglasses downwards to look him in the eye. "We've been spying on the wrong person entirely."

* * *

Meanwhile, the other half of James' current media relationship was storming over to his apartment. With a violent knock on the door, Callie waited impatiently for someone to open up. When she saw Kendall, she was a little disappointed. "Where is he." She seethed.

"Um Carlos is out with Brooke and James had needed to talk to Auden about something and Logan is on the couch…"

Kendall didn't get to finish his sentence as Callie pushed him out of the way, storming over to where Logan was seated, throwing the magazine onto his lap. "What. The. Hell?" she asked, arms crossed over her chest, foot already tapping impatiently.

Kendall turned around, smiling awkwardly as he offered "I'm just…gonna….give you two some space…"

"Don't!" Callie threatened. "I may need a witness."

Relunctantly, Kendall stayed, though he did make sure to stand on the other side of the kitchen counter from where Callie stood towering over Logan's seated frame.

"I don't know what came over me!" Logan answered honestly.

Callie narrowed her eyes "Look, do you have feelings for Delia? Because you've told me you don't but it sure seems like you do. I already told you how I feel about all of this, I just want you to be honest with me."

"I am!" he cried. "Delia is a friend. A really good friend! And Austin was saying some really hurtful things and friends help friends when they're in awkward situations…"

"Cut the bullshit." Callie demanded.

Logan groaned "I promise. There is nothing going on between me and Delia! I just said there was to shut her ex-boyfriend up! I would've done the same for you or Auden or Brooke!"

She sighed "And does Delia know that's the only reason why? Or does she think you like her?"

"Delia practically killed me for doing it in the first place!" Logan informed her with a voice that was high and panicky with anxiety. "If anything, she was more upset then you were!"

"Why would she be upset? She's getting tons of front page stories and had claims on two of Hollywood's hottest bachelors. Seems like a sweet deal to me."

Logan shook his head. "She was really concerned about you and James."

"What?"

"She knows that you two barely get along but you're both doing your best to paint a fake relationship to help out your friends and she actually really admires that. And she was honestly afraid you guys would be upset because you've worked so hard to keep this image up for the press and then she comes along and gets all these stories just for being friends with people. She may not act like it all the time but she really does care about you." Logan explained.

As the weight of everything came crashing down onto Callie, she softly muttered "I'm…I'm so sorry. Logan, I'm sorry for overreacting and for always coming at you like a jealous girlfriend even though we aren't dating." She smiled lightly "And I owe Delia an even bigger apology. Here I am in a rage and it turns out she's a better friend then I am."

Logan motioned for Callie to join him on the couch, which she gladly accepted. "Aw, I wouldn't say that." He put his arm around her shoulders as he confessed "You care a lot. That's nothing to be ashamed of. But you may need to dial it back a little." He laughed lightly.

Moving to rest her head on his shoulder, she mumbled "I really don't deserve friends so awesome and understanding."

"Umm…" Kendall waved awkwardly from the kitchen. "Is it okay? Can I go now?"


	8. I'm Okay

**AN: So, um, going into this chapter, I wasn't really sure where I was exactly going with it, and I think it shows. Nonetheless, everything is now set up for the NEXT chapter, which is going to be a doozy. Very excited for that one! I will say the one scene immediately prior to the girls seeing the music video was one of my favorites of the whole story so far.**

 **The song used for ABCD in this chapter is I'm Okay by SKYES, which definitely sounds like an earlier BTR song to me which is why I used it. As always, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

When the girls were ushered into Gustavo's office, they were more than a little anxious. They hadn't had a scheduled meeting that day, they were supposed to be working on what Mr. Roque himself deemed "filler tracks" for their album. However, upon arriving to Roque Records, instead of heading into the recording studio as they'd done every day for the past three days, Kelly instead pushed them into a board room. Gustavo was there, as was a woman who Kelly identified as Karen Anderson, alongside a bunch of other random middle aged men in suits. As they filed in, giving each other, and Gustavo and Kelly, confused looks, Karen smiled "Glad you could join us, ladies."

All four girls looked to her, Delia smiling and nodding, Brooke offering an awkward smile, Callie still sporting a confused look, as Auden asked "And what exactly are we joining you for?"

Karen smiled, clicking the power point projection clicker in her hand to demonstrate a graph on the screen behind her. "We released your Christmas video last week and you've already received two million hits. I'm Okay has been making good radio airplay, which means it's time to talk about your next music video."

"So our first music video?" Auden corrected "Since the first video we were in was actually released under the Big Time Rush Vevo."

Eyebrows lowering as she glared at the girl with dyed green hair, Karen conceded "That's correct."

"Speaking of them," Callie then asked "Are they going to be in this video, too? Or…?"

"Absolutely not." Karen replied almost automatically. "This video is not only focusing on you alone, but each of you individually. You won't even be in a shot together."

"Doesn't that seem counterproductive?" Auden questioned "Aren't we supposed to be all girl power friendship blah blah blah?"

Karen sighed, rubbing her temple. "It's to highlight who you are as individuals. It will make the general populous more familiar with your individual faces, rather than grouping you together, making you indistinguishable from other girl groups."

"I suppose that makes sense." Callie had nodded in agreement. Auden still looked miffed, but she was usually miffed about something, so everyone decided to ignore her.

Looking towards Gustavo, Karen instructed "Have the girls be in wardrobe for 8AM tomorrow, we start shooting at 10."

As she strode out of the room, heels clicking on the tiles until she reached the carpeted hallways, Gustavo turned to the members of his girl group. "So, I didn't exactly get that much creative control this time around. But I'll still be on set to make sure she doesn't totally ruin the image we've been creating."

"Which has been what, exactly?" Auden asked, tilting her head to the side. "Big Time Rush with vaginas?"

Gustavo didn't even answer her directly, opting instead to ignore her and keep talking. "The idea for the video is to have the four of you each dressed up as a pop princess from the past four decades and recreate scenes from her most iconic video. You can decide amongst yourself who will be posing as who." He explained, before throwing four pictures onto the table.

"Oh, this is so me." Callie gasped, picking up the 80s headshot.

As Delia lifted up the photo of the 90s singer, she beamed "She's still my idol. It would be an absolute honor to pay tribute to her."

"Not going to lie," Brooke smiled, picking up the headshot of the 2000s singer "I loved her, and this outfit and persona would be so much fun."

Auden rolled her eyes, muttering "And I mean, I've already got the funny colored hair so…." As she picked up the last of the photos on the table.

* * *

The next morning, the girls all arrived at 7:55 at Kelly's advice. Apparently Gustavo was in enough hot water with Karen Anderson that the last thing he needed was for the girls to arrive late. As they sat in four wardrobe chairs next to each other getting their hair and makeup done, Kelly was prepping them on the shooting schedule. "After wardrobe Brooke and Callie will be shooting first. Brooke will shoot on the soundstage while we get outside shots of Callie. The dancers come in at twelve so we'll shoot Callie's scenes and Delia's scenes back to back, and then they're off at four so we'll get Delia's alone shots after that. We also have a second soundstage to film Auden's scenes and anything that we need if we run over on time."

"So wait," Auden asked, "You mean to tell me I didn't have to be up this early?"

With a slight shrug, Kelly let out a happy sounding "Nope! I guess not! Once Delia gets into wardrobe the two of you are free to do whatever you want so long as you stay on property."

Auden mumbled "You got to be fucking kidding me" under her breath while slinking farther into her chair, causing the woman who was doing her hair to let out an exasperated sigh.

About an hour later, Delia and Auden had headed off, though neither Brooke or Callie could quite remember where to. Not that it particularly mattered, anyhow. Both girls had just gotten the finishing touches done to their respective hair and makeup and were already in wardrobe, Callie just pulling one of the long gloves on and up over her elbow.

Glancing around to ensure that they were, in fact, alone, Brooke spoke up, softly, as she asked "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did." Callie smirked into the mirror, before turning around to face the blonde, questioning "What's up, buttercup?"

Brooke's eyes glanced to the floor as she started "So, um, you know how Carlos and I have kind of been dating or whatever?"

"Kind of dating or whatever?" Callie repeated, a soft giggle on her lips "He's absolutely crazy about you and it certainly seems to me like it's mutual." With a shake of her head, black curls bouncing lightly, she then corrected "But I'm sorry, I didn't answer your question. Yes, I do know. What about it?"

"He…sort of…mentioned having sex. And I've only ever done it with one guy, who was my high school boyfriend and we'd been together for two years before we did so is this too early? Like I don't have a normal gauge on this sort of thing and I know he's never done it either which makes it even more confusing and…" the more the blonde spoke, the faster and more frantic the pace of her words became.

Callie quickly placed her gloved hands on Brooke's shoulders. "Look at me. Breathe. Okay? Are you breathing?" Brooke nodded, and Callie continued "Good. And I'm really not a relationship expert by any means, but the fact that you're getting so worked up about this tells me that you're not ready for this kind of step. And that's okay. Carlos is a good guy. If you don't feel comfortable yet then he'll understand. And if he doesn't then he's not good enough for you in the first place."

Brooke let out a soft chuckle as she admitted "If anything I'm the one who's not good enough for him."

At this, Callie frowned "What do you mean?"

"He's just…" Brooke looked up to the ceiling, as if for inspiration for the right words "…the total ideal. He's so sweet. And respectful. But he's so funny and so easy to talk to, too, you know? And of course he's so good looking and talented and I don't know what he's doing with a girl like me. He's the best of the best and that's what he deserves."

Callie shook her head as she tightened her grip on Brooke's shoulders. Looking the blonde in the eyes, Callie asserted "Brooke. You are the best. He deserves someone like you who thinks the world of him. Just like you deserve someone as wonderful as him. Don't ever forget that." Brooke nodded, but Callie persisted "I'm serious! You are a beautiful, interesting, talented young woman who deserves someone as good as him. Never settle for less because you think you don't deserve the best."

* * *

As Callie and Brooke shot their scenes, Auden and Delia were both milling around the building in full wardrobe. Auden had taken this time to go through Gustavo's office and see if she could find anything about Delia possibly being a robot while Gustavo was busy with the video shoot. Naturally, she knew she couldn't complete such a task alone, so she called in reinforcements. Specifically, Kendall and James, as they were the only ones who believed her theory.

After about an hour of casually snooping on her own – you can't fully snoop around without a lookout after all – the boys were supposed to have arrived. She'd gotten the text from Kendall that they'd made it into the building, but they still hadn't made it up to Gustavo's office. Deciding it best to meet them in the hallway to make her work look less suspicious, she exited the office. After a few moments, she did see them come out of the elevator. And while James had seen her and was started to head in her direction, it seemed as though Kendall's attention was being pulled to other things, as he yanked James by the elbow over to where he was headed.

And where he was headed happened to be towards Delia, as his voice was suddenly very loud as he asked "Delia, hey, you look cold, are you cold?" as he began to take off his hoodie. "Maybe you should put this on. And zip it up." Kendall was met by confused looks by both Delia and James, but that didn't stop him from babbling "Or you know maybe someone has a long, long winter jacket that we could bundle you up in. Or snuggies! I hear those are nice!"

"I'm actually fine, but I appreciate your concern…" Delia spoke tentatively, an underlying sense of caution evident in her tone.

This didn't stop Kendall's persuasions "Are you sure? I mean…" he glanced around, finally noticing Auden standing further down the hallway. He blinked, having temporarily forgot why he came by so early anyway. He reasoned Auden would understand the hold up. "…Auden's got one of those nice housecoats and she looks so cozy, are you sure you don't want one?"

"I just want to reiterate that I'm fine, thank you." She tried again, before adding "In fact, if anything, I have found it particularly warm. I was honestly considering taking off the cardigan until I had to be on set…"

She had started to take the sweater off, but was stopped as Kendall latched onto her forearm letting out a sharp "Nope! Don't! Do that! Not a good idea!"

"Okay, what is going on?" James finally asked, tired of being totally lost as to why this was happening.

Still latching onto the redhead's arm, Kendall turned around and hissed "Dude, help me out."

This only confused James more "With what?"

Delia had cleared her throat, regaining the boys' attention. "Would you be so kind as to let go of my arm?"

Kendall narrowed his eyes at her "I don't know, are you going to keep your sweater on?"

"May I inquire why this seems to matter so much?" she asked, her tone echoing his almost exactly.

With an exasperated sigh, Kendall admitted "I just don't think it's a good idea for you to be walking around with all these guys like…this…" he gestured to her after finally dropping his grip on her arm. "You're my friend and I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea."

Her eyes narrowed as she responded "In all fariness, this is the most you've ever spoken to me so I wouldn't consider us friends. And furthermore, I'm older than you, and James, and Auden, and everyone else in both bands. And you seem to have no problem with the way anyone else dresses."

"But…it's just…"

"Is this because I'm virgin?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No!" he cried, eyes wide "It's because you're tiny! People probably think it's easy to overpower you and I'm not sure you could fend off unwanted attention!"

"I've fended off James haven't I?" she quipped.

"Hey! I'm standing right here!" the taller boy cried, before he added "And what do you mean 'unwanted'? I'm a catch, thank you very much."

Ignoring James, Kendall sighed again "With the weird pink scrunchies and everything it's just…you look way too much like some dude's sick fantasy and I don't want you to have to deal with that kind of asshole."

Smiling diplomatically, Delia replied "As much as I appreciate your concern, I can handle myself perfectly well. I'm only dressed like this for the video regardless. And Auden's actually naked under her bathrobe, and she'll be appearing naked in the video, so perhaps I'm not the one you should be concerned for?"

At the mention of Auden being naked, both James and Kendall immediately stiffened, whipping their heads around as the whispered a low "Oh really?" in unison.

Delia rolled her eyes, muttering the word "Men" under her breath.

The boys, meanwhile, had beelined over the young green haired woman. She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as she chastised "So you only care about me when I'm naked?"

Kendall rolled his eyes "Don't be like that."

"I don't see what the big deal is," Auden shrugged "It's nothing that you haven't seen before."

"But we haven't seen yours!" James argued, as though he was making an infallible point.

Once again, Kendall opted to ignore him. "Look, she may be a robot but that doesn't mean she's not our friend. I was worried about her."

"She's a grown ass woman, or robot, or whatever," Auden rolled her eyes again "She can take care of herself."

"And she's not even your friend." James reminded him. "She just told you so."

Auden rolled her eyes "Anyway, about why I called you both here." This seemed to get both boys' attention back on track. "I found absolutely nothing. Which is good."

"Nothing?!" James cried, lowering his voice as Auden and Kendall both hushed him "How is _nothing_ good?"

"If you would let me finish," Auden glared at the tallest of the three, before continuing "I was able to find stuff about me and Brooke and Callie all in a folder in his filing cabinet. But there was nothing about Delia. I'm starting to think that maybe Gustavo's only the middle man. It's probably way above him."

Glancing around, James then asked "Like these dudes in the suits?"

Auden nodded "I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't go straight to the top. So I say we don't risk our jobs yet, and focus on finding out what we can about Delia. If we can just prove she's a robot, the rest should open up like my legs after too much tequila."

* * *

Hours later, the shoot was finally finished. The next day, the girls were all brought into Gustavo's office, finally dressed and made up like themselves again. "Well," Gustavo began, shoving a laptop towards the spot where the four girls were – Delia and Brooke were seated as Auden and Callie peered over their shoulders. "It's just a rough cut. But I thought you might like to see it."

Hesitantly, Brooke brought a finger to the trackpad, gliding it so that the cursor hovered over the play button. She bit down on her bottom lip, and glanced at the others quickly, before turning her attention back towards the laptop and clicking the button.

As the sounds of heavy synthesizers, processed guitars and drums faded in, the four empty sets were shown. Eventually, it zoomed to an exterior shot of Roque Records, Callie driving up in a red convertible. Dark curls covered in a pink hair wrap, she took off large sunglasses as she walked onto an all orange set. As she disposed of the wrap, the rest of her outfit became obvious, as she was mimicking the look of Madonna in her Material Girl video. As several male dancers dressed in tuxes danced around her, she sang;

" _I can feel them get close  
But it's alright  
They tryin' to make me sweat  
I don't care like,"_

The scene then changed to what looked like a greying high school hallway, with Delia against the lockers, her red hair in braided pigtails, mimicking Britney Spears' Baby One More Time video. The camera angled her face as she sang;

" _La di di da  
Di di da da da da  
La di di da  
Do do do do ya?"_

The scene then changed to a pink and black stage with a full band playing. As the chorus started, it revealed Brooke with fake pink streaks in her hair, wear a white t-shirt, a blue and black plaid skirt, fishnets, tube socks, heels and lots of eyeliner, in homage to Avril Lavgine's Girlfriend video

" _I'm okay  
Cause I don't back down  
I'm okay  
When I work it out  
I'm okay  
Cause I won't back down  
I'm okay  
Cause I work it out"_

As the lyrics changed, the scene moved to Auden, green hair softly curled as she wore nothing but a cupcake headband lying in a cotton candy cloud, much like Katy Perry in her California Girls video as she sang the rest of the chorus

" _Play it cool yeah  
When it feels fine  
They'll be coming for me dead or alive  
Play it cool yeah  
When it feels fine  
They'll be coming for me dead or alive"_

The scene cut to Delia once again, in the school hallway set doing the same choreography from the Baby One More Time Video. It then jumped to Brooke, who was mostly flinging herself across the makeshift stage spastically while tossing her hair. The scene finally went back to Callie, being lifted into the air by the male dancers as she sang

" _I hear them turning it up  
But it's my line  
If they gonna get loud  
I'll drown em out like"_

The scene went back to Delia against the lockers as the redhead sang

" _La di di da  
Di di da da da da"_

It cut Auden kicking her feet back and forth on the cloud, and then to Callie dancing with the men in tuxes behind her, before back to Delia as she sang

" _La di di da  
Do do do do ya?"_

As Brooke's section of the chorus started up again, it mostly remained on a close up of her face, though it did cut back and forth to Callie and Delia's choregraphy

" _I'm okay  
Cause I don't back down  
I'm okay  
When I work it out  
I'm okay  
Cause I won't back down  
I'm okay  
Cause I work it out"_

The camera panned from Brooke's face to her guitarist as the music became louder, before cutting back to Auden

" _Play it cool yeah  
When it feels fine  
They'll be coming for me dead or alive  
Play it cool yeah  
When it feels fine  
They'll be coming for me dead or alive"_

The video had cut back to Delia's choreograpy, before jumping back to a closeup on Callie's face as she sang

" _They'll be coming for me dead or_ " and the video jumped quickly between close ups on all four girls' faces as Callie's voice shook with autotuned " _a-l-i-ive"_

It cut to Auden, stretching and posing seductively on her cotton candy cloud, then to Brooke flipping her hair with all the professionalism of a trained Rockstar, back to Callie and her backup dancers, before focusing on Delia against the lockers again for her line of _"They'll be coming for me dead or alive"_

As Delia and Callie's voices could be heard going _"Oh oh oh oh"_ in the background, the video went back to Brooke as she belted _"Dead or alive – dead or alive"_

While Callie and Delia's back up vocals still rang, the video returned to Auden on her cloud as she belted _"They'll be coming for me dead or alive"_

The video then proceeded to jump between all four girls, as Callie and Delia could still be heard in the background, and Brooke sang _"I'm okay cause I don't back down"_ as Auden belted _"I'm okay I'm alright"_ over top of Brooke's vocals.

" _I'm okay  
I'm alright"_

" _I'm okay cause I don't back down"_

It cut to just Auden again as she sang " _They'll be coming for me dead or alive"_

And then back to just Brooke as she echoed _"Dead or alive"_

Finally, the video closed on Callie getting back into the car and driving away as Brooke and Auden sang _"Dead or alive"_ in unison.

All four girls looked up from the laptop, and up to Gustavo, who'd been watching them expectantly. "So – not terrible right?"

"Not terrible at all!" Brooke grinned, already wanting to replay the video.


	9. Welcome to Hollywood

**AN: So this took way longer than anticipated. But here it is! Originally, this was going to be even longer. But I decided it best to split into two halves, as the two stories sort of felt like two separate entities anyway. So I finished up the first half and here we are! Second half will hopefully be up by the end of the month.**

 **This chapter is sort of special as a lot of jokes and a lot of references I've been trying to make from the beginning finally reared their heads. A lot of obscure references were other things I had been watching the same weekend I wrote and posted the first chapter.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy, and not to be this person, but reviews, even to just say "great chapter", really do mean a lot to me. It lets me know that people other than myself are enjoying this.**

* * *

"Press etiquette class starts now!" Gustavo's voice was authoritative, and came as a loud boom, causing all four women to jump slightly in their seats. "You have a hit song and a video that has over a million views in the first week. Now we need to kick it into high gear." He paused momentarily, before pointing towards a large poster board that he had behind him. The board was full of small colored rectangles that girls were unable to decipher from their seats. "I have a full schedule booked for you. Radio interviews, magazines, TV talk shows! One hit song isn't enough. You have to be seen and heard in order to not fade away into obscurity."

Raising an eyebrow inquisitively, Callie questioned "And a Gustavo Roque crash course on press etiquette involves what, exactly?"

It was Kelly who stepped in with a cheerful tone and prepared answer "It's mostly about learning how to choose your words wisely while on the spot. They are certain things you can and can't say, but we can help you prepare with the questions they're most likely to ask you!"

With an eyeroll, Auden replied "So you're turning us into a bunch of Delias, is what you're saying? I don't want to be a little baby pigeon."

Clearing her throat, and eyes narrowing at Auden, Delia then supplied "The pesky bee has a point." Refocusing on Kelly and Gustavo, Delia continued, "I'm already quite skilled in the art of articulation and word choice. For me to attend such a 'crash course', as you so eloquently worded it, seems counterproductive for me."

Raising both of his eyebrows, Gustavo merely quipped "And do you think the seven year old girls buying your albums are going to understand half of the words that just came out of your mouth?"

"Oh snap!" Callie gasped, as she gave Auden a fist bump.

"We still want you to be yourselves," Kelly tried to answer Auden's original question "We just want you to be the best versions of yourself that you can be."

"And the most marketable!" Gustavo added. "And since it's close to Christmas time, the first TV interview we booked for you is going to let you perform I'm Okay, _and_ your Christmas song with Big Time Rush."

The three girls other than Brooke audibly groaned. The blonde looked at the other three quizzically, before asking "What was that about?"

"Ugh, no offense, since you're dating one of them," Callie began to explain. "But everything related to them in our career has been unnecessarily complicated."

Delia nodded, adding "I'm sure you recall how easy it was to shoot the I'm Okay video, and I'm certain that if you took a moment to think about why that may be, you'd draw the same conclusion yourself."

"Drawing dicks on Gustavo's stuff is funny when we're not working, but they do stuff like that all the time." Auden replied "And they're probably going to fuck the interview up somehow, too."

"First lesson!" Gustavo cried, before spraying water from a spray bottle that had been sitting on the table into Auden's face " _You_ need to watch the potty mouth."

"WHAT THE FUCK" she screamed, as Gustavo continuously squirted the bottle in her face.

"The more you swear, the more I'm going to squirt you."

Trying in vain to swat the bottle out of his hands "Well if you keep squirting me I'm going to swear more Jesus Christ on a motherfucking cracker!"

Kelly, Brooke, Callie and Delia all tilted their heads to the side in unison, as Brooke sighed "This is going to go on for a while."

* * *

The next day, the girls were back stage at the Mary Hayes show. While getting their hair and makeup had just finished, Auden frowned as she glanced down at her red and white flannel top that was opened over a solid red v-neck, grey leggings and black boots, and scrunched her nose up at the mirror again as her eyes caught the obnoxious red scrunchie holding the messy teal bun on the top of her head in place. "I still don't get this rainbow shit."

Gustavo squirted her boots with water – he would've gone for the face had her hair and makeup not been done – as he attempted to explain, "It's a marketing plot. The colors represent your personalities."

Kelly then smiled, elaborating, "For example, red is often associated with danger, power, determination and passion. And that's you! Orange," she offered, gesturing a hand towards Kendall, who, despite the navy blue beanie, was wearing an orange and blue flannel top over a white t shirt, grey jeans and orange converse "represents enthusiasm, fascination, creativity and encouragement."

A smug smirk appeared on his face as Kendall supplied "Sounds like me."

Gesturing a hand towards Brooke in her yellow cardigan, white camisole, yellow skirt and white flats, a yellow bow tied to the end of her braid, Kelly continued "Yellow is often tied with intellect, energy, and happiness. And green," she then gestured to Logan, who was wearing a dark green cardigan over a light green t shirt, as well as darkwash jeans and black sneakers. "represents harmony, endurance and stability."

Callie – who was wearing a sapphire blue silk top with black fight fitting pants and blue high heels - then pressed "Well you can't just tell half of us. The rest of us want to know what our outfits are subliminally telling the masses!"

With a slight giggle and a shake of her head, Kelly conceded "Well, blue can mean a lot of things. Most commonly, confidence, intelligence, and trust." Callie gave a nod, impressed with the answer. "Purple," Kelly continued – now gesturing towards James and his shiny purple button up shirt and grey dress pants, "symbolizes things like luxury, ambition, and extravagance."

"Well," James smiled, tilting his head as if to toss his hair back "I _am_ pretty extravagant."

Bouncing up and down like a puppy, Carlos cried "Me next! Me next!". His helmet bounced up in down, almost flopping onto his plain white v neck t shirt.

"White is tied to a lot of great things!" Kelly beamed. "Light, goodness, innocence. And black," she started, everyone's eyes now on Delia and the solid black halter styled dress she wore with black heels and a thick black ribbon tied into her red hair like a head band. And for a moment, Kelly faltered, before offering "…stands for…mystery…-a-and elegance…."

"And villainy." Delia supplied, her tone somehow both bored and bitter. "And evil. And death. Glad to know what you all think of me."

Snickering, James turned to Auden and Kendall as he muttered "Well it's not wrong."

Red hair whipped around so quickly it almost looked like a cape as she threatened "Do you want to say that to my face, or are you afraid I'll slap yours?"

James rolled his eyes, reaching down to pat the shortest on the head as he reminded her "You can't even reach my face."

"I'd say you've sunk low enough for me to reach." She replied, eyes narrowing as she craned her neck upwards to glare at him.

Eyes widening and arms flailing widely, Logan asked "Why is she so angry all of a sudden?!"

Callie gently placed a hand on Logan's shoulder from behind him, lowering her voice to a warm murmur as she explained gingerly. "Gustavo really broke her down yesterday."

"I think literally." Auden whispered to the two boys standing next to her "Probably replaced some of her parts, making her an even more undetectable robot."

Delia, who was still standing in front of James, screamed "I'M! RIGHT! HERE!"

"ENOUGH!" Gustavo bellowed. "In five minutes, ABCD is going to go on Mary Hayes' daytime talk show. It will be your first public appearance, and if you look like anything LESS than super talented best friends, the label WILL drop you. It is VITAL that this goes well, so get off your asses and start acting like adults!"

Picking up his spray bottle, Auden pulled the trigger, water misting his face as she simply stated "You said asses."

* * *

And they went on. They were welcomed, the crowd cheered, and in order of height, out walked Delia and Callie who sat next to each other, and Brooke and Auden, who sat behind the shorter two girls. Mary smiled and shook all of their hands as she gave them a fake smile that put Delia's to shame, as she spoke unusually cheerfully "Welcome to the show girls! It's honestly such an honor to have you!"

"It's an honor to be here." Brooke replied, her smile cute and genuine, just like she'd practiced with Kelly and Gustavo for hours the afternoon prior.

"So your first single, I'm Okay, is all over the radio, your Christmas music video with Big Time Rush already has two million views, what is it like to become so famous over night?" Mary inquired.

"It hasn't quite been overnight." Callie replied with a smile, tucking a strand of black hair behind her ear. "Working with talent like Gustavo Roque, and like the guys of Big Time Rush, has been extremely humbling. We're getting traction, but there's still a long way to go."

"That doesn't mean we're not thrilled of how far we've gotten already," Auden added, just as Gustavo had scripted. "It's still so cool to just be going for a walk or headed out to eat and to hear your own voice on the radio. It's not something everyone gets to experience and we're all so super grateful for it."

"And speaking of things to be grateful for!" Mary then smiled a little more slyly, "The holidays are coming up, and three of you are dating the very cute boys of Big Time Rush, any plans to get cozy under the mistletoe?"

"Three?!" all four girls repeated, eyes widening as they glanced at each other.

"Well, James and Callie have been together since before we even knew who you ladies were…" Mary started.

"And he's such a great guy." Callie interrupted. She knew she had to talk about James, Gustavo had prepped her on it. Their fake dating was the biggest marketing ploy of all, after all. "And I've been so thankful for all the time we've gotten to spend together, since we're both so busy working on our own careers."

Mary nodded, before turning to Brooke as she continued "And shortly after your Christmas video came out, pictures of you and Carlos starting circulating."

A slight blush rising in her cheeks, Brooke nodded before replying "Uh, yeah. Carlos and I have been together for a little while now. It's all still very new, but he's just such a fun and positive person to be around. It's hard not to want to be around him, you know?"

"And then Logan and Delia have mostly been able to stay out of the spotlight, but magazines have seen you two holding hands and on what seems like a lot of ice cream dates…"

Delia, who'd been taking a sip of the water bottles placed out for the band, started to choke on her water. Unbeknownst to the girls on set, Logan, who was watching the whole thing with Gustavo, Kelly, and the rest of Big Time Rush on a monitor backstage, spit the water _he'd_ been drinking out onto the monitor.

"Dude," James shook his head "We were watching that."

Back in front of the cameras, Delia was shaking her head furiously. "Oh no, no no no. Logan is just a friend. A close friend. A best friend. But nothing more."

Quirking an eyebrow at the redhead, Mary leaned in, observing "You seem awfully defensive about this."

Delia took a breath and a second to recompose herself before opting to respond. "I love Logan. He's the closest connection I have here in LA. He's quite honestly the only person who I feel like I can be myself around. I love him, but like a brother. Part of the reason why our friendship is so strong is because I don't want anything more than friendship and neither does he. We're on the same page, and it's a beautiful connection to have, especially with someone you've just met."

"But this is all still new, that could change in the future, couldn't it?" Mary pressed.

"Could it?" Delia replied "Yes. Absolutely. Anything's possible. But will it? I don't think it will, honestly."

Mary seemed a little disappointed, she was likely looking for a juicier confession to happen on her show. "So if Delia has officially put Logan back on the table…"

"…he was never mine to take off the…"

"…what about you, Auden? Gonna sneak in there and scoop up some Mitchell?"

Auden snorted from laughing so hard. "Oh goodness, no. Again, great guy. Love him like a brother. But hard pass romantically."

"Kendall is also single, would either of you ladies ever want him to be your Knight in shining armor, if you catch my drift?"

Delia shook her head, as Auden countered "Is he really single, though? I think he's seeing someone behind all of our backs. Paparazzi, if you're watching this, follow Kendall Knight around closely. I think he's seeing someone. You can quote me as a close personal friend of the source."

With a giggle and toss of her blonde curls, Brooke then explained "Kendall and Auden have been locked in an escalating series of dares and pranks, pretty much from day one. They're always trying to one up each other, and it's been a lot of fun to watch. But please don't take what she just said seriously."

Auden conceded "In all seriousness, Kendall is one of my best friends and there's almost nothing I wouldn't do for him. Or with him, for that matter. We're going bungee jumping on Thursday."

Turning to the camera, Mary spoke "Well, it's time for our commercial break, but when we come back we'll have the girls sing their hit sing, I'm Okay, and we'll follow up with Big Time Rush themselves! Stayed tuned."

* * *

As the girls went backstage, they were met with happy expressions from the boys and Kelly, and a neutral expression from Gustavo. "Wow!" Carlos beamed, immediately wrapping Brooke into a hug. "You girls did great! I'm so proud of you!"

Glancing at her phone, Kelly then informed the younger adults "And Twitter is going crazy about the interview. Fans are suggesting new dares and pranks for Kendall and Auden to try on each other, and #DeloganBreakup is trending in California!"

"We were never dating!" Logan cried, exasperated.

With a snort, Carlos added "Delia made good and sure everyone knew that!"

"Suddenly little miss perfect word choice isn't looking so perfect. It was hilarious to watch The Little Mermaid _flounder_ like that!" Auden laughed.

Her tone cool and distant, Delia replied. "So? I'm fallible. All humans are."

"At least we know she's not a robot." Kendall joked.

The smile on his face vanished, however, as Delia stuck a finger in his face as she threatened "Do. Not. Talk. To. Me." She paused, and then waved her finger between both Auden and James as she added "You two, either."

"What crawled up her ass and died?" James asked as Delia stormed into the bathroom.

Narrowing her eyes, Callie scoffed "Are you seriously asking that?". She was met by James' eager nod. "She's mad that the three of you were spying on her to gather intel to prove she was a robot."

"You what?!" Kelly exclaimed.

Shaking her head, Auden hushed Kelly, muttering "Look, that's not important now. What's important is figuring out how she found out. Who told her?"

"No, that's not what's important!" Callie cried "What's important is that three people who were supposed to be her friends betrayed her trust and made her feel like an outsider. It was a really shitty thing to do, it made Delia feel really shitty, it makes you really shitty people, and I hope you feel really shitty about it."

Eyes narrowing, Auden then accused "You were the one who told her, weren't you? If you could've kept your whore mouth shut for another few days she'd be bitching at us after our first live performance instead of right before it."

Callie had opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by Logan seething "Do. Not. Talk. To. Her. Like. That. Take it back. Now."

"Why should I?" Auden scoffed. "I meant it."

"Because I told Delia." Logan confessed, still shaking with anger. "Because you guys are supposed to be a band and she deserved to know what you were doing and saying behind her back. So, she's a little weird. But she's still a really nice person, who deserves to be treated like a human being."

"When was all of this even going on?" Brooke questioned. "I honestly had no idea."

"Of course you didn't." Callie sighed, running a hand through her hair as she muttered "You've been too deep in puppy love to notice anything minorly unpleasant."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Brooke asked.

"Kelly, go get Delia from the washroom." Gustavo instructed quietly. As she left, he bellowed "LISTEN UP! You are all grown ass adults, and it's time to start acting like it. I'm done with this childish bickering." As Kelly returned with Delia in tow, he continued. "The girls go back on in less than a minute and then the dogs are going on with them. You're all here because you're professionals, so you better start acting like it. If I have to listen to one more childish fight today, you can kiss your careers goodbye. All of you."

* * *

As the girls went back on set, performing I'm Okay, the tension was still palpable. Most viewers wrote off the weird atmosphere as first time jitters, and Gustavo prayed that it would fade by the time they got to the Christmas song.

The guys watched them perform, all standing a cautious distance from each other. Callie was right about one thing, Kendall did feel really shitty about the whole Delia situation. Watching her out there was awful. All four girls were undoubtedly off of their game, but Delia was noticeably so. With knots in his stomach, Kendall walked over to where Logan was standing, putting a hand on his shoulder as he asked "Hey, you and Delia are really close, right?"

Logan nodded, slowly glancing up at Kendall, before letting out a small "Yeah. Yeah we are."

"You know her better than anyone else. And I feel awful about everything." Kendall admitted with a sigh, before finally getting to the point "I want to do something to make it up to her. But I don't really know anything about her. I was hoping you could maybe help come up with an idea."

Logan nodded silently for a moment, before a soft smile tugged at his lips. "I think I may have an idea." Turning around, he motioned at the other two members of Big Time Rush. "Carlos, James, come here. I have an idea. I'd like your input."

* * *

The crowd went wild as the girls finished their song, the awkward air between dissipating only a little. "Weren't they fantastic?!" Mary cried to her audience. "I'm Okay is the first single of off ABCD's upcoming album, and here to sing their new hit Christmas duet Perfect Christmas with them is Big Time Rush!"

Immediately the teenage girls in the audience started screaming, the guys smiling as they all walked on set, moving to stand next to their vocal partner in the song. "So, boys, what was it like collaborating with the girls on this song?"

"It was a really fun process." Carlos answered. "We'd met the girls before, but it was the first time we really got to know them. And they're all so talented and so great to work with."

James then added "What's really great about it is that thanks to this project, we're all friends. And these girls are some of the greatest people you could ask to be friends with."

"It's interesting, too," Kendall added, "Because the guys and I, we started as four hockey players from Minnesota who loved to sing. These girls had never met before auditioning for Gustavo, but there's already such a strong bond between them and I think I speak for all of us when I say that it's really amazing to witness that so early in their careers."

"As a matter of fact," Logan chuckled, "We were all kind of in a big fight backstage, and the girls were fighting with each other just as badly as we were. Fighting just like best friends who've known each other for years. It's amazing how deeply they already care for each other."

"Well, I certainly hope you made up!" Mary joked awkwardly.

With a nod, Kendall answered "We're still working on a way to make it up to a certain someone in particular. But we're working on it. Because we care about these girls as much as we care about each other."

At this, the audience let out a collective 'awww', and Mary took that as her queue to cry "Well enough talking, how would you like to hear some Christmas music?"

The audience cheered, and they all took their places, starting with the same simple choreography from the music video.

Brooke's voice rang out first

" _Hello friend, it's me again  
I just called to tell you,  
Even though I miss you so  
I've been thinking of you  
All my dreams are coming true, at last...oooh_"

Carlos took her hand, spinning her into a cuddle as he sang

" _The perfect ending to a wonderful year  
Will be to celebrate the good times with you here  
Cuz I know,_ _  
For sure,_ _  
I never wanted anything more"_

The young adults shifted, moving to dance around Kendall and Auden, who were standing front and center, singing the chorus in unison.

" _The greatest gift that there could be  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you  
Though the winter seems so long  
My faith in love has kept me strong  
So if I had a wish come true  
I'd send the perfect Christmas with you"_

Still dancing in perfect unison they shifted again, allowing the focus to fall on Logan as he sang

" _I can't wait  
Till the day  
When I finally see you  
So hold on  
I wont be long  
Got so much to show you  
All our dreams are coming true at last...ooh_"

Callie walked up next to him, leaning the arm that wasn't holding her microphone on his shoulder as she sang

" _The perfect ending to a wonderful year  
Would be celebrate the good times with you here  
Cuz I know  
For sure  
I never wanted anything more_"

Now standing on opposite sides of the stage, Carlos, Brooke, Logan, Callie, James and Delia danced between Auden and Kendall as they sang once again

" _The greatest gift that there could be  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you_"

As James belted out his " _Woah woah"_ he took hold of Delia's hand, the two walking closer to the front of stage as they sang

" _So when you ask me what I mean  
To me the Christmas is complete"_

Delia sang her line _"Boy can't you see"_ completely as rehearsed.

James, however, belted _"You're the one thing missing for me"_ while tucking an invisible strand of hair behind her ear, slowly and gently caressing her cheekbone with his thumb, which was entirely unchoreographed, which a keen eyed viewer may have caught from the puzzled smile on her face as he did so.

The cameras then changed focus once again to Kendall and Auden, as they finished up the song

" _The greatest gift that there could be_ _  
Wrapped underneath my Christmas tree  
Would be the same my whole life through  
I'd spend the perfect Christmas with you  
Though the winter seems so long  
My faith in love has kept me strong  
So if I had a wish come true  
I'd send the perfect Christmas"_

The camera then cut to a close up of Auden's face as she sang _"_ _And if I had one wish come true..."_

Kendall wrapped his arms around her as they sang _"_ _I'd spend the perfect Christmas here..."_

" _With you."_ He finished, before leaning over to kiss Auden's temple, as she shoved him off of her with a playful smile on her face.

"Wasn't that wonderful?" Mary cried to her audience. "Almost makes me wish there was a Roque Records Christmas album! When we come back, we'll show you four surprising uses for avocado!"

Backstage, Gustavo's eyes widened. "That's brilliant."

* * *

Following the show, tensions seemed to be a little better. The girls had all more or less made up, though Delia was still distant, and was spending anytime that wasn't on the clock walled up in her room. Callie had tried to talk to her first. Brooke had tried a few hours later, and Auden even gave a very heartfelt apology through the door. Nothing was working.

Running a hand through her hair, Callie sighed. She'd taken a walk, and ended up exactly where she knew she would. She needed to get out of the apartment – she'd recommended that Brooke and Auden do the same, in order to give Delia some much needed time to be truly alone. But as much as she knew Delia needed the space, she also knew that she needed to clear her own head. Her thoughts had been all jumbled lately, and the current situation wasn't doing much to help.

However…

There was one thing that had came to her amidst all the frustration. Perhaps the most jumbled of her thoughts, previously, suddenly all made sense. It was so clear now. Which was why she wasn't at all surprised when she found herself outside of the boys' apartment, knocking on the door. To her relief, it was Logan who answered. "Hey." She greeted. "Can I talk to you? Alone?"

As soon as he shut the door behind him to join her outside, she told him "You are full of shit."

Needless to say, this baffled him. "What?"

"You're all 'if the circumstances were different blah blah blah' and 'too big of a risk blah blah blah' and you tricked me into thinking you were right. But you're not!" she cried, an accusatory finger resting in front of his face. "With everything that's been happening, I'm done hiding things from the people I care about. Will we have to hide it from the press? Of course. But tons of people date in secret. ABCD may not last, I might have to go back to Ohio…" she sighed, moving to take one of his hands in hers "…and I don't want to waste any time that I have with you thinking what if. It's the only life we've got, Logan. We gotta live it big time."

He sighed, eyes staring down at the ground, before looking back up at her, nodding as he admitted "You make a good point. I can't really argue with my own band's philosophy."

"I knew you wouldn't." she giggled.

Shaking his head, he then interjected "But we have to be smart about this. We have to tells James. He has to know before things get any messier than they already are. And it will have to be very, very discreet. We can't look like anything more than friends outside of our own homes."

Callie nodded. "We'll make it work."

With a smile, Logan then had an idea. "Hey, so, whiplash of subject matter, I know, but Kendall and I are sort of working on doing something for Delia, and we could use your help, if you were interested."

Raising an eyebrow, Callie inquired "It doesn't involve robots, does it?"

Chuckling, he shook his head "Not this time, I'm afraid."

* * *

Delia was very reluctant about the whole situation. Callie and Logan had promised that it would be fun, and that she would love it, and all she needed to do was trust them. But they had blindfolded her and put her in a car and refused to take the blindfold off _or_ tell her where they were taking her. When the car had finally stopped, she thought she was going to be able to finally remove the blindfold. "Ah ah ah!" Callie cried, grasping the redhead's forearm to prevent her from removing the blindfold. "Not just yet."

As Callie helped her out of the car and practically dragged her along, Logan began to explain "This was actually mostly Kendall's idea, so I think it's best to let him explain…"

"He's not here, is he?" Delia had whined.

"Yes, yes I am." Kendall answered back.

It was James' voice that spoke next as she heard "And while it was Kendall's idea, I want to take credit for it, too. Because we both feel like giant turds."

"We're all here." Came Brooke's voice. "Because even if we weren't directly involved, we should've been paying more attention. We shouldn't have let it get out of hand."

"I know you're a fragile little baby pigeon," Auden tried, "But I didn't ever really stop to think about how this would all effect you. Especially since you apparently aren't a robot. It was super shitty and I was a real dick."

"That's all well and good." Delia sighed "But I still haven't the foggiest notion where we are or why I needed to be blindfolded for this apology."

"We're getting to it!" James' voice rang with excitement.

Kendall's hands then rested on her shoulders as he steered her in the direction she was supposed to be walking in. "You could've really used some friends this past week. And your Florida friends obviously weren't around, and your California friends obviously weren't doing a very good job. And we'll never really have the same relationship that you have with your Florida friends. But at the end of the day…" he paused, as he let Logan undo the blindfold "…isn't friendship universal?"

Delia gasped, opening her eyes to witness the Universal Studios globe spinning outside the theme park.

"We know you miss home, especially lately." Logan tried to surmise, "And even though the west coast version is a lot smaller than what you have out east…"

"And this…" Delia glanced up at Kendall "…this was your idea?"

He nodded, before gesturing to Auden and James standing beside him. "It was, but these two really wanted to make it up to you, too. So we all pitched in and bought day tickets for all of us."

To everyone's surprise, Delia then pulled the three tallest into a hug – although her little arms only really managed to wrap around James on one side and Auden on the other, not quite making it to Kendall in the middle. "I love this. I love you guys. Thank you."

Standing off to the side with Logan, Carlos and Brooke, and Callie chuckled "What happened to the Delia who didn't even like any of us?"

"That was before you bought me Universal tickets!" she squealed, tightening the hug she was still holding Auden, Kendall and James in.

Auden then stiffened, before pulling her way out of the hug. "Okay, that's enough mushy gushy touchy feely for me."

"Party pooper." Kendall taunted, sticking his tongue out.

Rolling her eyes, Auden moved walk between the boys and Delia, effectively ending the hug. "But I did get something else done for you." Reaching into the leather bag she carried on her, she pulled out a plastic CD case, handing it to the redhead "It's a bunch of songs that lyrics sort of fit you. And make your weird robot like tendencies sound like a good thing."

Looking over the tracklist, crystal blue eyes lit up as she gasped "Aicha? Like Gellieman Aicha?"

"Of course!" Auden cried, genuinely excited. Posing dramatically, she began singing _"So sweet,"_

" _So beautiful,"_ Delia supplied

The two sang together " _Everyday like a queen on her throne!"_

" _Don't nobody know how she feel…"_ Auden sang before nodding at the redhead "See, that's you."

Jaws dropped as they watched the two sing and head to the turnstile entrance, Logan turned to the other five and asked "What…just happened there?"

"The start of a beautiful, very strange friendship." Brooke offered.


	10. Welcome to the Christmas Mashup

**AN: JESUS CHRIST ON A CRACKER THIS TOOK ME FOREVER. I was trying to get this done before the new year. I really, really tried. But here it is. The newest chapter and the second half of the Christmas arc. A lot of songs are used in this! In order, Let It Snow (traditional), Marshmallow World (traditional), Shake Santa Shake (originally by Zendaya), Step Into Christmas (originally by Sir Elton John), and another song that will not be listed in fear of giving away the surprise.**

 **This chapter is...good, I think. It's definitely not as good as the last chapter was, but I'm still pretty proud of how it turned out. As always, I love hearing from you and reviews make my heart happy. Also, I hope you guys like jealous!Kendall. Cause you get a lot of him in this chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

When the girls of ABCD had been called into Gusatvo Roque's office for an "emergency holiday meeting", they expected to see Gustavo and Kelly, maybe Karen Anderson and her lackeys, and maybe, just maybe, Big Time Rush. They were not expecting to see Kat's Crew, and BoyQuake, and Boyz in the Attic, and Dak Zevon, and Jordin Sparks, and even The Ziggle Zaggles. It seemed as though all of the other artists were just as confused as to why Gustavo had brought them all together in the first place. Carlos had spotted the girls first, striding up to them with the taller three members of Big Time Rush following behind, as he questioned "Do you guys know what's going on here?"

All four women shook their head in response, Callie voicing "We just got called in for an emergency holiday meeting."

"What's with…everyone?" Brooke questioned, gesturing towards the populous of Roque Records performers, both old and new.

Quirking an eyebrow, Auden questioned "Are they even all still signed to Gustavo's label? When's the last time anyone heard of BoyQuake?"

"WE'RE RIGHT HERE!" the boyband in question declared in unison.

"Apparently," Logan tilted his head "They all got the same 'holiday emergency' text that we did. But Gustavo is nowhere to be found!"

But speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Throwing the doors open, his voice echoed "Listen up! We are putting together a Roque Records Christmas album!"

Immediately, he was met by a resounding "WHAT?!"

"It's December 10th!" Kat cried "All of the Christmas albums have already dropped this year!"

"With the success of BTR and ABCD collaborating, I'm hereby giving you all full control of what goes on this album! I was collaborations, I want classic Christmas songs, and I want you all to have recorded them by Monday, because Tuesday night we're having a release party where you'll all be performing your tracks live!"

After Gustavo's spiel, the spirits in the room brightened, everyone glancing around at the other groups, visions of Christmas songs running through their heads.

Raising a hand, Walley Dooley of The Ziggle Zaggles – or Wayne Wayne as the members of Big Time Rush unfortunately remembered – asked "So like, are we talking The Ziggle Zaggles ft BoyQuake or am I free to duet with Kat if I so choose?"

"Mix it up!" Gustavo cried "I want variety! If that means bits and pieces of groups recombing, so be it!"

Kelly finally spoke up "There'll be a sign out sheet in front of the recording booths so that everyone can efficiently schedule their recording sessions!"

"So get to work!" Gustavo cried "I'll be busy hyping up the press, and I'm expecting some quality collaborations!"

As soon as Gustavo strode out of the room, Delia immediately turned to the three taller girls in her group, gushing "I absolutely need to work with Dak Zevon! You know about me and vampires, and he was in Varsity Vampire and Varsity Vampire 2. Imagine! The beautiful, haunting, vampire Christmas love song…"

"Um no," James scoffed. "I'll be the one duetting with Dak. We're the two most talented, best looking guys on the planet. A collaboration is natural, and we'll make music history."

Eyes narrowing, Delia popped onto her tip toes in order to better get into James' face as she stuck a finger towards it "I'm duetting with Dak."

Hunching over, leaning into the smaller girl's face, James also stuck his index finger towards her face as he argued "No, I'm duetting with Dak."

Stepping between them from behind, a hand placed on either of their shoulders, Callie smirked "Actually, it looks like Jordin is duetting with Dak."

Both Delia and James followed Callie's gaze, only to let out a disappointed sounding whine.

Quickly, Auden stepped in front of James, crying "Never you fear! I have an idea, and only you can help."

"Only me?" James asked, surprised and flattered.

"Only him?!" Kendall cried, sounding incredibly confused and partially jealous.

Green hair flying as she whipped her head around, Auden's voice lowered "But we can't discuss it here" as she firmly grasped James by the wrist and yanked him out of the room.

An eyebrow raising in the direction that Auden had just dragged James off to, Logan asked "What was that all about?" but he was only met by shrugs, and Kendall's blank stare into the direction they'd run off to.

With a smile on his face, Carlos then suggested "Well, I would very much like to duet with my girlfriend, if she would like."

Brooke giggled and rolled her eyes, blonde curls tossed gently as she shook her head "Of course."

"For the love of all that is pure and wonderful in the world please promise us right now that you're not going to sing Baby It's Cold Outside" Callie groaned.

Though Logan's face was etched with worry, he nodded in agreement "Let's keep Christmas consensual."

"We'll figure something out." Brooke promised, before practically skipping out of the room hand in hand with Carlos.

Before anyone had time to process anything, the voice of one of the members of Boyz in the Attic cried "Hey!" before a hand was placed on Delia's shoulder "You're little baby Britney from Gustavo's new video, right?" the redhead barely had time to nod before he continued "You should totally duet with us! Boyz in the Attic and little baby Britney, it's like the perfect nineties nostalgia!"

Delia had opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the sound a different boybander, this time, of BoyQuake, making quick strides as he proclaimed "If anyone collabs with Baby Brit, it's gonna be BoyQuake."

"Well too bad!" a different member of Boyz in the Attic exclaimed "Because she's already working with us!"

"Gentlemen, if I may…" Delia attempted to reason "…I would like to remind everyone of the fact that I haven't made an official agreement to any party yet. I would be more than delighted to work with either group, perhaps we should discuss my options over a hot chocolate?"

The aging former teen idols all nodded in agreement, following the short redhead out of the room.

"Did…" Callie was almost to stunned to ask, "…did Delia just get a date with every member of two boybands?"

With nothing more than a sigh, Logan replied "That somehow fails to surprise me."

Shrugging, Kendall then asked "So, now what? Looks as though almost everyone else has paired off, unless one of you wants to work with The Ziggle Zaggles."

Turning to his taller companion, Logan suddenly had an idea "Why don't you and I just throw something together? Instead of it being half of Big Time Rush, it'll be like Kendall Knight featuring Logan Mitchell. We already know we work well together."

"That!" Kendall paused for dramatic effect "Is actually a great idea. We can throw something together and then not have to worry about it afterwards."

With a high five, the two began sprinting out the door, leaving Callie to cry "Excuse me?! What about me?!"

"You're smart, you'll figure something out!" Kendall cried before the door shut behind him.

Little did Callie know, someone had seen the whole ordeal, and was about to approach her about it. The culprit was quiet. So quiet, that Callie didn't even realize someone was behind her until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Letting out a short yelp in surprise, she turned to see Shayna of Kat's Crew. "Whoops." Shayna let out a slight chuckle "I couldn't help but notice that your group ditched you just now, kind of how mine did, and well, since we're both still in need of a collab…"

Callie blinked, still more than a little shocked from the suddenness of…everything, that had happened, not just Shayna's proposition. But the vacant stare turned into a warm smile as she agreed "Absolutely, yeah. Let's do it."

* * *

The next afternoon, Kendall and Logan were stepping out of the recording studio, having put together a great sounding Christmas duet in very little time, just as the plan had been. Checking the sign up sheet, Logan noticed "Oh, hey, Auden and James are coming in next."

Nose scrunched up, Kendall mocked "Auden and James", before throwing himself onto a chair. "She didn't even _like_ James last month and now all of a sudden they're spending every waking moment together."

"I think that mostly had to do with the false belief that Delia's a robot." Logan reminded him. "And you were a part of that, too."

"Only because they were always hanging out without me!" Kendall cried back.

Perching himself on the arm of the chair that Kendall was currently flopped on, Logan gave his shoulder a squeeze as he confessed "I don't think this is about James and Auden being friends. I think this is about you being jealous."

"Why would I be jealous?" Kendall replied automatically "I'm happy for them!"

"You don't seem very happy." Logan countered.

Kendall groaned "What's it to you, anyway? I haven't exactly had you to hang out with lately, either. You're always doing weird nerd things with Delia or you're fawning over Callie while telling her that you can't date right now."

"First of all doing the USA Today crossword is not a weird nerdy thing," Logan corrected, before letting out a sigh and very quietly admitting "and you're not exactly right about the Callie thing anymore. Things have…changed."

"Changed?" Kendall questioned, "Changed how?"

"You have to promise this doesn't go farther than you, me, Callie and James." Logan forewarned.

With a nod and a shrug, Kendall replied "Dude, you know you can trust me with this kind of thing."

He shouldn't have trusted Kendall. And he quickly learned that the following morning when Delia started whacking his forearm with a rolled up gossip magazine. "You! Idiot!" she cried between each smack of Logan's arm "Do!? You!? Know!? How!? Stupid!? This!? Decision!? Is!?"

Logan did manage to tear the redhead away, letting out a small "Ow" in the process.

Unfortunately for him, Delia went right back in, swatting at his other arm "Why! Can't! You! Keep! It! In! Your! Pants?!"

"Hey hey hey!" he cried, finally grasping both of Delia's forearms in order to make her cease fire. "Stop that! It's not like that, okay?! We were keeping it a secret from you guys because we need to keep it a secret from the press. We're trying to be smart about it, but you know, still go for it."

"You're being ridiculous." Delia replied, her anger suddenly lessened as her voice became almost unsettlingly toneless. "Our entire friendship was based on judging Callie and James for being so foolish as to not forego personal relationships while maintaining their relationship for shared publicity to benefit all of us. Now you're the one partaking in such foolishness. You're a disgrace, and our friendship is fraudulent."

"Stop being such a drama queen!" Logan whined. "C'mon. You're my friend. Be happy for me. Help me out. Help us keep things under wraps."

"Well I may have been more willing to if I would've been informed from the source." She admitted in a huff. "Instead of via the group text Auden sent us."

"You know why I couldn't tell you!" he pleaded.

Delia rolled her eyes "I'll of course aid in keeping things under wraps. But I'm doing so because it's helping out all of our careers, not as some personal favor to you."

"Does that mean I can bug you for other favors?" Logan cracked a bit of a smile, desperate to lighten the mood with his friend.

With a shake of her head, a smile finally emerged as she warned "Don't press your luck."

* * *

And eventually, Tuesday arrived. All of Gustavo's artists were dolled to the nines, jaws dropping every time an act walked into the room. With a few deep breaths, ABCD walked into the room together.

Auden's current attire was far from the traditional "Christmas", but she undoubtedly fit the dress code in a black leather and lace dress with black boots laced to her thigh. Green hair that was typically her natural waves in a lazy updo was out this evening, and straightened. Her eyes were coated in eyeliner and silver smokey eye, and there was a beautiful silver shimmer highlight on her cheekbones. While Delia had fought to put some red lipstick on her, she did eventually settle on a coral color Brooke offered to loan her.

And speaking of Brooke, she was the absolute image of a Christmas angel. The A-line of her forest green dress stopped right at her knee, and the gold flats on her feet paired with the few bangle bracelets and the small necklace she wore accentuated the natural gold of her curls, of which she'd simply pinned a few back. She wore a little more makeup than usual, most noticeable in the intensity of the gold eyeshadow.

Callie opted for red, both because it was Christmas, and because it was sexy. The tight red dress was sleek and shimmery. Her shoes were just as powerful of a sleek, red heel, and her lipstick matched. Her hair was mostly let out, aside from a small section that would typically frame her face being pinned back on both sides.

But when it came to hair being pinned, Delia's took the cake. Her hair was swept into a modernized beehive style, with enough of her long bangs left out to curl and caress the side of her face. Her makeup was composed almost entirely of silver glitter, down to the almost snow-like lipstick and lipgloss combination. Her dress was of an almost white silver, covered and glittered and a skirt made of layer upon layers of tulle. And of course, she wore a high pair of silver heels – so tall that she almost matched Brooke in height. Almost.

"Well well well," Logan smirked as he approached the girl group, the rest of BTR in tow. "Look who's all dressed up with nowhere to go."

"Are you kidding?" Callie scoffed "This is the place to be. Look at everyone. They're all so gorgeous and famous…"

"And festive!" Carlos chirped.

Eyebrows raising as he smirked at Auden, James replied "Well, most of us."

Auden didn't hesitate to punch James in the arm. "It's for the bit. You know this."

"Yeah well the rest of us don't." Kendall replied automatically, his voice sounding almost impatient.

An eyebrow raising quizzically, Auden questioned "Who pissed in your fruit loops this morning?"

"For your information, I had Cookie Crisps." Kendall replied, his tone smarmy, though no one really understood why.

Trying her best to break up the sudden tension, Brooke clasped her hands together, creating a long clap "Well, tis the season for friendship and Christmas parties! Let's go drink some egg nog and have fun!"

The general consensus was a positive murmur as they all slowly began to disperse, just as Jordin Sparks and Dak Zevon finished their duet of Do You Hear What I Hear. "Dak and I would've sounded so good together." James whined.

"If I sang with him he could've fallen in love with me and I would have the handsome vampire boyfriend I deserve," Delia sighed "But _you_ had to get in my way." She snapped, turning to face James.

With a chuckle, he asked "Who did you even rope into singing with you, anyway?"

"Just a couple of guys." She replied vaguely, smiling a little too largely for James' liking. Maybe she wasn't a robot, but she was definitely up to something, as far as he was concerned. He was about to open his mouth and say something about it, but she had already left, the microphone being adjusted to her petite stature, as both BoyQuake and Boyz In the Attic also took their places.

As the music swelled, one of the members on Boyz in the Attic sang;

" _Oh, the weather outside is frightful,  
But the fire is so delightful.  
And since we've got no place to go,  
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"_

A member of Boyquake then sang

" _Oh, it doesn't show signs of stopping,  
And I've brought some corn for popping.  
The lights are turned way down low,  
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"_

All of the males then harmonized

" _When we finally kiss goodnight,  
How I'll hate going out in the storm!  
But, if you really hold me tight,  
All the way home I'll be warm!"_

Delia finally sang, and her voice mimicked that of a 1950s starlet, more than her actual singing voice

" _The fire is slowly dying,  
And my dear, we're still good-by-ing.  
But, as long as you love me so,  
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"_

As the instrumental played, Auden could be heard hollering "YAAAAAAS DELIA! GET IT WITH YOUR OLD DUDE HAREM!"

Callie nudged Auden in the arm. Auden didn't apologize, but she did stop yelling.

" _Oh, it doesn't show signs of stopping,  
And I've brought some corn for popping,  
Since the lights are turned way down low,  
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!_

 _Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!"_

As every politely clapped and the performers went to mingle, Delia raised an eyebrow as she approached Auden "old dude male harem?"

"That was definitely you as the star of a creepy nine way orgy, don't even lie." Auden responded.

With a knowing look, Delia replied "I'd be more likely to assume it was just the eight of them together, if you catch my drift."

"Well then it's no wonder they all wanted to sing with the world's greatest beard!" Auden stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Gay men of all ages love you."

Delia was about to quip back, but refrained from doing so as she noticed the current duo on stage was none other than Brooke and Carlos

" _It's a marshmallow world in the winter"_ Carlos sang  
 _"When the snow comes to cover the ground  
It's time for play, it's a whipped cream day  
I wait for it the whole year 'round"_

Smiles glued on both their faces, Brooke then sang

" _Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly  
In the arms of the evergreen trees  
And the sun is red, like a pumpkin head  
It's shining so your nose won't freeze"_

The together, the young couple finished the song

" _Oh, the world is your snowball, see how it grows  
That's how it goes, whenever it snows  
The world is your snowball just for a song  
Get out and roll it along_

 _Oh, it's a yum-yummy world made for sweethearts  
Take a walk with your favorite girl  
It's a sugar date, what if spring is late  
In winter it's a marshmallow world"_

"I never understood that song." Kendall mused out loud.

Delia raised an eyebrow "To what level?"

"Like, growing up in Minnesota," he began, "Snow is not like marshmallows or whipped cream. It's slushy and usually full of dirt. Who in their right mind would want to eat that?"

"Dude, I grew up in Alaska," Auden countered "And we still ate snow all the time. So long as it's not yellow you're pretty well set."

Wrinkling his nose up, Logan sneered "Auden, that's disgusting."

"It's just water!" she argued, before grabbing Logan's chin and forcibly turning it as she instructed "Now shut your piehole and watch your not-girlfriend sing."

Callie had taken her way to the stage, alongside Shayna, who was also wearing a similar short and skintight red dress. Unlike the previous performers, they moved the mic stands off to the side before their music started, taking their places as the music started up, performing the choreography they'd come up together as Callie sang

" _Who's that dude in the cherry red suit  
Tearing up the floor tonight?"_

Shayna then sang  
 _"He's shaking his hips, got a sack full of gifts  
And a beard that's crazy white"_

Still dancing in sync, the girls then harmonized

 _"He's got the party rockin'  
Candy canes and stockings  
Dancing like he's Michael  
Spinning like the vinyls_

 _Sleigh bells in the air_  
 _Favorite time of year_  
 _Where wishes come true,_  
 _That's how we do, yeah, that's how we do_

 _Shake, Santa, shake it!_  
 _We know you're gonna take it_  
 _To the house tonight!_  
 _Shake, Santa, shake it!_  
 _We know you're gonna make it_  
 _Naughty never looked so nice!_

 _We want that merry, merry!_  
 _We want that merry, merry!_  
 _We want that merry, merry!_  
 _Ho-ho-ho, oh yeah!_

 _We want that merry, merry!  
We want that merry, merry!  
We want that merry, merry!  
Ho-ho-ho, oh yeah!_ _"_

And in that a moment, a thought came to Auden. "Why are there so many songs about shacking up with Santa?"

Brooke raised an eyebrow quizzically "That was about dancing Santa."

"I know, but it was a little too close for comfort." Auden sighed "Like, okay, Santa Baby, why would you want Santa as a sugar daddy? And isn't he married? How does Mrs. Claus feel about all these young starlets trying to sleep with her husband?"

"Maybe they're in an open relationship?" James tried.

Carlos nodded "And, ya know, maybe Santa's really good in bed so that's why everyone's always singing about it!"

As Logan and Kendall took the stage, they brought the mic stands back, along with stools, as two stage hands assisted in bringing up guitars for them, plugging them into the amps. With a nod, they began playing acoustically, their guitars being the only instruments heard as Kendall's voice rang out

" _Welcome to my Christmas song  
I'd like to thank you for the year  
So I'm sending you this Christmas card  
To say it's nice to have you here  
I'd like to sing about all the things  
Your eyes and mind can see  
So hop aboard the turntable  
Oh step into Christmas with me"_

Logan's voice joined with Kendall's as they sang together

" _Step into Christmas  
Let's join together  
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever  
Eat, drink and be merry  
Come along with me  
Step into Christmas  
The admission's free"_

"Holy shit," Auden muttered to whoever happened to be standing next to her – which happened to be James on one side and Callie on the other "That's so good."

They nodded, as James jokingly retorted "Well, they are part of the greatest music group ever."

"Shut up." Auden hissed, whacking James in the stomach, though he eyes never left the stage. "I mean, like… _really_ good."

Callie followed Auden's gaze, and nodded sagely "Yeah," she smiled, "I know what you mean."

" _Take care in all you do next year  
And keep smiling through the days  
If we can help to entertain you  
Oh we will find the ways  
So merry Christmas one and all  
There's no place I'd rather be  
Than asking you if you'd oblige  
Stepping into Christmas with me"_

Logan once again joined Kendall on the chorus

" _Step into Christmas  
Let's join together  
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever  
Eat, drink and be merry  
Come along with me  
Step into Christmas  
The admission's free  
Woah oh oh oh"_

As they finished putting their equipment away, they made their way back over to the group. Kendall was stopped almost immediately by Auden, who only wanted to reiterate what she'd already told James and Callie "Dude, that was like, so good."

"Thanks." Kendall smiled, a little aloofly, as he then added "Nothing that James couldn't have done, apparently."

Auden raised an eyebrow "Bruh, what are you talking about?"

"I think you know." Kendall stated, his voice becoming more bitter by the syllable.

Auden rolled her eyes "I really don't."

"Are you and James doing the horizontal tango?" Kendall questioned, finally asking the question that had been on his mind for the past month. "Because you've been spending an awful lot of time together. And it seems like you don't exactly have time for me anymore."

If Auden's eyes could have gotten any bigger, they would have fallen out of her head "NO! I have no fucking idea where you would even get that idea from." Glancing behind her, James was already on stage, motioning for her to join him. "I can't explain right now but just…watch the performance and you'll get it, I promise."

As she hurried onto the stage, Kendall mimicked "You'll get it, I promise. I already get it. You're fucking my best friend."

The others approached Kendall, cautiously, Carlos' voice timid as he asked "Are…are you okay buddy?"

Kendall had opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by James doing some very Mariah Carey like riffs as he crooned

" _I don't want a lot for Christmas_ _  
_ _There is just one thing I need_ _  
_ _I don't care about the presents_ _  
_ _Underneath the Christmas tree_ _  
_ _I just want you for my own_ _  
_ _More than you could ever know"_

Kendall could feel his jaw clench as he seethed, "I knew it."

 _"Make my wish come true oh_ _  
_ _All I want for Christmas is…"_

And then – everything changed, as Auden screamed into the mic

" _WILL YOU BE THE SAVIOUR OF THE BROKEN?!"_

As the Christmas music continued, everyone's eyes were wide, Logan muttered "What the hell is happening…"

In time to Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You, Auden sang

" _When I was a young boy  
My father took me into the city  
To see a marching band"_

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!" Callie cried from the audience, throwing her hands above her head, Carlos laughing hysterically, and Brooke smiling from ear to ear.

" _He said son when, you grow up  
Will you be, the savior of the broken  
The beaten and the damned_

 _He said will you defeat them  
Your demons and all the non-believers  
The plans they have made_

 _Because one day I'll leave you  
A phantom to lead you in the summer  
To join the black parade"_

James let out a very pretty sounding

" _All I want for Christmas is you  
Oooh baby"_

Before Auden sang again, once again practically screaming into the microphone

" _When I was a young boy  
My father took me into the city  
To see a marching band  
He said son when, you grow up  
Will you be, the savior of the broken…"_

James' voice then belted out

" _Santa won't you bring me  
The one I really need  
Won't you please bring my baby to me_ _  
_

 _I don't want a lot for Christmas  
This is all I'm asking for  
I just wanna see my baby  
Standing right outside my door_

 _I just want you for my own  
More than you could ever know  
Make my wish come true  
Baby all I want for Christmas is…"_

As James let out a very high, falsetto " _You_ ", Auden screamed again

" _WHEN I WAS A YOUNG BOY  
MY FATHER TOOK ME INTO THE CITY  
TO SEE A MARCHING BAND"_

As they finished, they received thunderous applause from both their fellow band members, and many of the other acts signed to Roque Records.

Making her way back over to Kendall, Auden smirked, hands on her hips. "See? You just weren't Mariah Carey enough for me to be MCR."

With a dejected sigh, Kendall rolled his eyes "I mean, yeah, okay, I guess."

Auden narrowed his eyes at him "You're always jumping to these conclusions and like, yes, sometimes they're fun and I love it and I still think Delia might be a robot, but like, other times, dude, you can just ask. I'm not screwing around with James. And I never will be. He's not my type."

Raising an eyebrow and with a slight smirk, Kendall questioned "So you have a type?"

"Don't act to surprised, Kendork." She replied, punching him in the arm in process.

Eyes widening, he cried "Can I act surprised when you punch me?! Jesus woman, do you lift with The Rock that HURT"

* * *

As the night tolled on, the party became quieter and quieter, until the eight decided it was best if they headed out for the evening. "I still can not believe Auden sang MCR for Christmas." Callie recounted, shaking her head.

"I can't believe that you can't believe that." Auden replied, chuckling. "But you were pretty fine up there shaking your groove thing for Santa."

"It felt good to actually be able to sing, you know?" Callie replied "Gustavo usually leaves that you and Brooke."

"Just talk to him." Kendall suggested with a shrug. "After tonight there's no doubting that any of you ladies can sing."

"Though there might be some doubt as to Delia should be singing now or like seventy years ago." Logan added "Where did that voice even come from?"

Delia shrugged, before asking "If any of you would care to know, I've never actually been a singer. I have got a very good ear, though. My singing has almost always consisted solely of me doing an impression of the original singer."

"Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait…" Auden put her hands up "You mean to tell me that you got put in Gustavo's _NEW_ group, by doing an impression of his _OLD_ group?"

Nose crinkling, James commented "You make that sound like BTR is BoyQuake or something. We're still famous."

"Can we also take a moment," Callie paused, before dramatically gesturing to Carlos and Brooke "to appreciate the cutest couple on the entire planet. You two sound so good together, too."

They stopped, finally having come up to the girls' apartment. Kendall was the first to glance up, eyes narrowing at the decoration "What's with that?"

"Oh!" Brooke gasped "It's sort of been a family tradition of mine to put mistletoe up on the door every year. I thought I'd try to continue it here, with my new family."

"That's really sweet, actually." Logan stated, slightly surprised by how sweet the sentiment was.

Carlos grinned, stepping into to give his girlfriend a short, sweet kiss. Both of them blushing and smiling after, Carlos chirped "I think I'm gonna like having this up here."

A sly smile tugging at Callie's lips, she turned to Logan, slowly putting each of her hands up around his shoulders "You know, nobody's around right now to see this…"

Logan smiled, finally able to indulge himself in the action that had been tempting him for the last four months.

Smirking condescendingly, James offered "You know, Delia, I'd let you kiss me like the music video, but we'd need to get you another step stool."

Offering him the sweetest smile possible, she told him "If given a step stool, I would use it to punch you in the face for that comment."

With a chuckle, he reached down, patting the barely five-foot girl on the head as he reminded her "It's a shame you're not tall enough to reach."

Kendall, meanwhile, was trying to think of something to say to Auden that would make it obvious that he wanted to kiss her, but still casual enough that if she was thrown off by his advances he could play it off. He'd finally thought of something, when he turned to see that Auden was no longer standing next to him.

He located her almost immediately, though, as everyone was pulled to pay attention to Delia's sudden shrieks of terror as Auden had scooped her legs up, hoisting the smaller girl up in the air "I gotchu babe!" she cried, "Now you've got height! Punch that asshole in the face! He has it coming!"

"WHAT?!" Delia cried "No! Put me down!"

"Not until you punch James!" Auden almost sounded as though she was whining "I wanna see you punch him!"

"I am not going to punch James! This manicure cost me 45 dollars and I'm not wasting it on your revenge fantasies!" the redhead shrieked as she started slapping Auden's shoulders "Now put me down! Put me down this instance!"

"This is like Shrek!" Auden laughed "When Fiona's all 'put me down or you will suffer to consequences!'"

"Do not quote Shrek at me right now!" Delia screamed

Auden cried "It's always appropriate to quote Shrek! Shrek is love, Delia! Shrek is life!"

James turned to Kendall "How come Logan and Carlos got to date the two normal ones? How is that fair?"

Kendall looked back at Delia thrashing her arms above Auden's head, and Auden laughing maniacally as she clearly had no plans of putting Delia down any time soon. A warm smile tugged at his lips, eyes never leaving Auden as he answered "Seems pretty fair to me."


	11. Anything You Can Do

**AN: Well well well, has it ever been a while. Are any of you even still alive?**

 **So I really do want to apologize for the delay on this chapter. And since so much time was spent between the last chapter and this one, I did want for this chapter to be more of a filler, which it most definitely is. That being said, I actually really like this chapter. This was the kind of stuff I was really aiming for when I first conceptualized this story. Just the two bands getting into shenanigans. This chapter is also significantly shorter than the other chapters, too. And as the chapter as a whole was filler, I didn't want...you know...a metric shit ton of _unnecessary_ filler.**

 **I actually first had the idea for this chapter back in like, October. I had needed to get to a point where all of the characters were comfortable enough with each other to really just have them hang out and let the dialogue fly. But now that we've gotten to that place, we've also gotten to that chapter! Yay!**

 **Again, super sorry about the wait, but hopefully you all enjoy this fun filler chapter!**

* * *

When Carlos suggested that they should all "do something fun", this wasn't what the other seven had in mind. Delia's nose had wrinkled at the smell of the decaying building as she waited for everyone else to file out of the two vehicles that were needed to transport all eight bodies. "You're sure this is the right address, Carlos?" Kendall asked, eyeing the place skeptically.

The shortest of the boys grinned "Yep! I used to come down here a lot actually. It's gonna be great!"

Auden, who'd been standing next to Callie, leaned over to whisper "Is this how we die?"

Callie shook her head, before loudly asking "Carlos, you seem very excited about all this, but you still haven't told us what the plans are. Would you mind giving us a little info?"

"That would ruin the surprise." Carlos stated simply, as though it was the most obvious fact in the world.

Brooke rubbed her boyfriend's arm as she asked, cautiously "Could you maybe give us a hint?"

Carlos paused in thought for a moment, and the other seven leaned towards him in anticipation. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Finally, Carlos chirped "Nope!" causing all of his friends to groan.

James had opened his mouth to argue, when Carlos finally went to the door, and headed inside with a carefree enthusiasm. The others all glanced at each other in skepticism. "Okay!" Kendall cried, clapping his hands together if for no other reason than to break the awkward silence "Let's…follow him!"

And so Kendall did. Brooke followed, if for no other reason than curiosity. The other five still stood outside, glancing back and forth between each other and the door. "What's the worst that could happen?" Auden asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Carlos' naivety caused him to unknowingly trust criminals who lured us all here to sell our organs on the black market." Logan and Delia replied in unison.

If Auden's eyebrow hadn't been raised before, it sure as hell was now. As was James'. And Callie's. "You've clearly thought a lot about this." Callie stated plainly.

With a shudder, Auden added "You need to stop this Grady Twin nonsense. It's spooky as fuck."

Fed up with current course of the conversation – and honestly due to his incredibly thin patience – James finally marched over to the door, proclaiming "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going in. I haven't heard any screams of terror yet."

Callie nodded, following him. Logan followed in behind her, clutching at her shoulder protectively. Auden went in after him, with Delia staying almost glued to the taller's girl back. "If this goes south I'm not above using you as a human shield."

"Delia what the fuck," came the audible mumble under Auden's breath.

But to Delia's – and everyone else's – surprise – it did not, in fact, go south. Or at least, as south as Delia and Logan's imaginations would have had them believe. No, instead what they found was a room – lit fluorescently but dimly – with tacky decorations, the smell of cheap and greasy fast food, and most importantly, twelve lanes of bowling.

"What took you guys so long?" Carlos asked, the absolutely joyful smile never leaving his face. "Get your shoes! Let's go!"

As the remaining five members of the friend group got their shoes, Callie couldn't help but laugh "Delia, your feet are so tiny."

"My everything is tiny." Delia stated simply. It was factual, of course.

Auden couldn't resist chiming in "Except for your big fat mouth."

"Was that necessary?" Callie chided.

Auden rolled her eyes "Jesus, get off my back, _mom_."

Raising an eyebrow, Logan asked "Why does Callie get to be 'Mom' when you call me 'Grandpa'?"

"Cause Callie's a MILF." Auden explained with a shrug.

Eyebrows knitting together as a confused smile etched over her face, Callie replied "Thank you?"

They all soon moved to where Kendall and Brooke were sitting. "So how do you want to do this?" Kendall asked "All eight of us on one lane? Boys vs Girls? Teams of two?"

"Dibs on being Carlos' partner!" Auden cried "He's here all the time, we have the home field advantage."

With a giggle and a shake of her blonde curls, Brooke reminded Auden "It's not a competition."

"It's not?" Kendall asked, wrinkling his nose up. "Well that's no fun."

"So let's make it a competition." James suggested.

Callie nodded in agreement, before suggesting "Yeah, BTR against ABCD!"

Brooke leaned over to whisper to Delia "Are you any good at bowling?" but was only met by a shrug.

"I thought this was supposed to be a fun team building exercise." Logan seemed to only be speaking to himself at this point. His comment was lost in the void.

As the pins were getting queued up for the first round, Carlos cheerfully cried "May the best band win!"

"We will!" Auden cried back.

Standing up to put a hand on Auden's shoulder, Brooke's voice was sweet and gentle as she told her "Okay, you need to calm down."

Auden clearly had no intention of doing so as she stepped up to bowl, facing off directly with Kendall. "Good luck, Cassleman." He smirked "You're going to need it."

Raising an eyebrow, Auden asked "And you're some kind of gifted bowler?"

"Could be." Kendall shrugged confidently. "You don't know that."

"Could you stop flirting and start bowling?" Callie asked loudly, though her tone was bored and flat.

Auden smiled smugly, giving the ball a good throw and knocking over eight pins. Kendall then threw his…also knocking over exactly eight pins. "How could we tie?!" Kendall asked, incredibly baffled by the very notion.

"By knocking down the same amount of pins?" Logan responded from his seat, entirely confused as to why this was a question. It wasn't exactly rocket science.

As the pins reset for the next round, Carlos and Brooke made their way up to the lanes, each grabbing a bowling ball. "Good luck sweetie!" Carlos grinned, leaning over to lightly kiss Brooke's cheek.

"GET A ROOM!" James cried from his seat.

Callie raised an eyebrow, smiling wryly "Is someone a little jealous that he has no love life?"

"I _had_ a love life," James responded bitterly "Until _someone_ decided they'd rather date _Logan_."

"I never liked you like that!" Callie cried, exasperated "I barely liked you as a person!"

"You guys want to keep it down?" Logan hissed in a hushed tone. "We're not alone here."

Amidst the arguing, it seemed no one other than Kendall noticed Carlos' spare and Brooke only knocking down four pins. "YAS!" he cried, standing up to high five the shortest member of his group "Way to go Carlos!"

Logan and Callie then stepped up, each grabbing a bowling ball of about the same weight. As Logan slowly lifted it up and down, trying to figure out the exactly weight to calculate the best possible trajectory, Callie had lobbed the ball at seemingly random, knocking down seven pins. Logan smirked, thinking he'd be able to best her…but only knocked down six pins himself.

"YAS CALLIE!" Auden cried, throwing her arms above her head "SLAY QUEEN!"

Callie rolled her eyes but was undoubtedly smiling as she walked past Delia to return to her seat.

Delia had only just picked out her bowling ball – she needed a lighter one due to her pixie like stature and complete unwillingness to do any kind of heavy lifting – when James had leaned over to pat her head "Good luck, kiddo."

Keeping a completely neutral tone a facial expression, Delia expressed "I wish you'd stop doing that."

James looked to the ceiling, feigning thoughtfulness, as though he was actually pondering the situation, before letting out a "Hmmm….no. Not gonna happen." He stated as he continued to pat her head "Especially now that I know it bothers you."

Delia pouted, but retaliated by dropping her bowling bowl on his toes.

"Who's flirting instead of bowling now?!" came Auden's very impatient cry.

Delia's head spun around so quickly that her red hair whipped James in the arm as she told Auden "My apologies." Before turning back around, picking up her bowling ball, and tossing it into the lane. She only managed to hit five pins.

James smirked smugly, despite his aching feet. "Serves you right for dropping your ball on my toes." However – as he threw his ball, it landed in the gutter.

The game continued on and – to everyone's shock and surprise, it had ended in a tie. "I guess the best band did win." Carlos commented with a smile.

"NO!" Kendall and Auden yelled at the same time, both moving to stand up.

Eyes wide, Callie muttered "Simmer down now" but it mostly went unnoticed.

"I will _not_ settle for a tie!" Kendall cried, before deciding "We need a new competition."

Brooke pouted "But I was having fun bowling."

"This new competition could be, fun, too!" Kendall tried.

There was a long silence, before Callie finally asked "Anyone have any ideas?"

With a smirk, James supplied "I might."

* * *

Leaving the bowling alley, they once again filed into the two vehicles. This time, Logan driving the members of Big Time Rush and Auden driving the members of ABCD. Kendall sat shotgun in Logan's car, as he listened to the driver whine "Well, I hope you're happy."

Kendall quirked an eyebrow "What did I do this time?"

"You let your insane competitive nature ruin a perfectly fun night, is what you did." Logan answered, eyes never veering off the road, like the good driver he was.

In denial, Kendall retorted "I did no such thing."

"I probably wouldn't have a bowling ball dropped on my toes if you didn't go and make this a competition!" James cried from behind Logan.

Rolling his eyes, Kendall remarked "Delia would've done that anyway. You were being more annoying than usual."

"Why couldn't we just have a fun time bowling?" Carlos asked to no one in particular. "I just wanted to share one of my favorite places with most of my favorite people and have a fun time!"

"And _most of us_ ," James spat bitterly "Thank you, Carlos. Because we were _trying_ to have fun, before _someone_ decided he needs everything in life to be a competition!"

"Coming from you!" Logan cried "You were the one who suggested we go to laser tag! How does that help?!"

"I was thinking that shooing each other might help ease the tension!" James answered, before adding "And besides, laser tag is amazing and we should all do it more often."

Meanwhile, in the girl's car, the conversation was a lot more civil. "Do you guys want to win this?" Auden asked, glancing at the other three girls in the car, instead of the road.

With a shrug, Callie replied "Well, yeah."

"Do you trust me?" Auden pressed "Because I have a surefire way to make sure one of us is the last to get shot. But you're all going to have to do what I tell you."

She was met by an affirmative sounding murmur and the nod of the three heads. Delia then spoke more clearly "It's always best to devise and act upon a plan, anyhow."

"Brooke, Callie, I'm going to need you to cover Delia and I. One of you stay in front and the other stay behind." Auden instructed. "Delia, I'll give you specific instructions once we get inside."

Once the cars pulled into the parking lots, the four young adults walked into the laser tag venue in a thick silence, only broken when Kendall approached the counter, asking for a round of eight. The silence continued as the employee instructed "You'll have 90 seconds to stake out spots before the game starts. Boys, you'll be red. Girls, you'll be blue. Once the game starts, if you're hit, the vest will vibrate and you'll be out."

They all nodded, and Carlos finally broke the awkward tension in the air with a genuine "Good luck!"

Auden merely turned to the girls and instructed "Remember the plan." The other three members all nodded.

James' eyes widened as he turned to the other member of Big Time Rush "Plan?! They have a plan?! Why don't we have a plan?!"

"Don't worry." Kendall attempted to reassure the tallest, placing a hand on his shoulder, though it mostly sat atop the bulky laser tag vest. "We're best on our instincts. Besides, you're the best player here."

The performers were given their start, and they all took off running. The boys ran randomly – no particular start point in mind – while the girls had a system. Brooke led the group, Auden and Delia following closely behind, and Callie power walking backwards behind them, keeping her eye out for any possible obstacles. As the girls finally made it into the back left corner, Auden called out "How are we doing for time?"

"25 seconds til the game starts!" Brooke answered.

Auden nodded, before crouching over, her back at a near 90 degree angle as she called "Brooke, Callie, head out!" They did as they were instructed, both girls running from the spot – Brooke sticking to the front left and Callie heading to the front right, as Delia hopped onto Auden's back, piggyback style. "Now we wait." The tallest girl murmured.

Brooke ran into Logan first – literally, their bodies smashing together causing them both to stumble backwards, just as the game started, their vests suddenly illuminated. They immediately shot each other. Just as Han and Greedo, it was impossible to say who shot first, because they were both out within the game's first five seconds. "Well." Logan sighed, exasperated. "Wanna go get a soda while we wait for these guys to finish?"

The blonde nodded "They may be a while. You think they have those cameras where we can watch the rest of the game from outside?" she asked as they walked out together.

Meanwhile, Callie had targeted in on her prey, which, at the moment, was one Carlos Garcia with his back turned to her. Silently, she tiptoed forward, making sure she had the shot lined up, before sending the infa red into the target marks on the shortest boy's back. Feeling the vibrating sensation, Carlos whipped his head around, trying to find the source of his laser tag death. "Sorry pal." Callie cried, genuinely empathetic. "But you were a pretty easy target."

While Carlos smiled, all pleasant vibes were whipped from Callie's face as she heard Kendall's soft chuckle of "Heh, hypocrite." Directly before he shot at her vest.

"No fair!" Callie whined.

Kendall smirked "All's fair in love and laser tag!"

James soon ran up to the trio who'd been standing in the near center of the room they were playing in "Who's out?"

"Us." Callie and Carlos replied unison, both raising up their laser guns in defeat.

Kendall nodded towards the nearest score board, informing the tallest "Looks like Brooke and Logan are, too."

"So it's two to two?" James asked.

Kendall nodded, before instructing "You take the front, I'll take the back." As the two split ways, Callie and Carlos leisurely made their way to the exit.

Having run straight into the back, Kendall wasn't as cautious as he should've been. He didn't survey his surroundings, too busy looking for one of the two girls still left in the game. If he had of been more cautious, perhaps, he wouldn't have gotten shot in the back.

Eyes wide, he turned around, facing the glowing blue behemoth that was Auden piggybacking Delia, both of whom had their guns at the ready. "You can't sit on her back!" Kendall cried, before accusing "That's cheating."

With a smirk, Auden retorted "Hey, all's fair in love and laser tag, lollipop."

"Lollipop?" Kendall questioned, raising an eyebrow.

With a shrug – causing Delia to bob up and down – Auden supplied "Hey, it could be worse. I call Logan grandpa."

"You called me a robot for a month." Delia stated boredly.

"I was only looking out for mankind, not like we've been over this a thousand times." Auden snapped at the redhead.

Kendall merely shook his head. "Well, I'm out, but I'm going to tell James what you're up to."

Delia raised an eyebrow quizzically "I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to. There's no rule against it. Auden merely came up with an incredibly impressive strategy."

"It's cheating. It has to be." Kendall continued to press.

"Look it up, buttercup!" Auden jeered "We're totally within regulation play."

Kendall groaned, storming off to the front. James whipped around at the sound of footsteps, but was disheartened at the sight of his teammate in an unilluminated vest. "Dude?!"

With a sigh, Kendall merely offered "Back left corner. Delia's on Auden's back."

"Delia's _WHAT_?!"

Gun out in front of him, finger firmly grasping the trigger, James ran to the instructed spot. He arrived, seeing exactly what Kendall had described. His gun was aimed and ready, but then, so were both of the girls'. "Step down, Diamond." Auden threatened. "We can make this a lot less humiliating then it needs to be."

Quirking an eyebrow, James questioned "And just how humiliating can you make it? No matter how you shoot me, I'm still going to walk to the front…"

"Told you it wouldn't work." Delia muttered.

Roughly jostling the girl on her back, Auden hushed "Quiet, you."

"What's stopping me form pulling this trigger right now?" James asked cautiously.

"Because there's two of us and one of you." Delia replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Shoot me, Auden can still shoot you. Shoot Auden, I can still shoot you. You can't get us both out in one…"

James had been so preoccupied with Delia's explanation, he didn't notice that Auden had pulled the trigger "…shot." The green haired girl finished for her companion.

"OH COME ON!" James cried.

Still atop Auden's shoulders, Delia reached over, patting his head, just as he had down to her at the bowling alley. "Better luck next time, kiddo."

Hoisting the shortest off her shoulders, Auden grabbed her wrist and held it in the air "Our grand champions!" she exclaimed, as the three made their way back to the front.

"Yeah yeah," James muttered, with a roll of his eyes, before asking "So, um, hey, hope this isn't weird or anything, but I come here a lot and I'd actually love to steal your piggybacking idea."

With a shrug and a smile, Auden offered "Oh, sure thing! I'll even loan you Delia, if you want. She's tiny so you barely remember you have person on you."

"I'm a human." Delia responded "You can't loan me…"

Her protests went unheard, as James smiled at Auden "That would be great! It would show the 10 year olds in those candy commercials who's boss. Plus Delia's small enough that she'd be allowed to push the kids, which I'm always getting in trouble for."

"I'm not consenting to any of this!" the redhead cried again, and once again went entirely ignored.

With a sigh but a genuine smile, Kendall greeted them at the exit "Well, congrats, Cassleman. You proved to be the better player. I'm impressed."

"I'm still right here!" Delia chirped "I won, too!"

As James walked off to join the others, Auden, smirked "Not sure why you're so impressed. You should have known I'm better than you."

"Why do you have to word it like that?" Kendall groaned, though he was still smiling.

Auden shrugged "Cause it's true?"

Delia groaned in frustration, and begrudgingly followed James over to the rest of the group.

Kendall and Auden didn't seem to notice. "Come on, there's got to be something I'm better at than you."

"You're better at being a whiny piss baby." Auden offered.

Kendall frowned "You sure about that?"

It only earned him a punch in the arm.


	12. It's Cool We're Just Friends

**AN: New chapter! This chapter isn't as cohesive of a story/overall theme as some of the others have been, but I still do like how it turned out. The only real note to make about this chapter is that Roger, a character who appears in one scene, was inspired by Brandon Rogers, one of the few YouTubers I actually watch. You by no means need to know it's him to picture the character, but if you already know who Brandon Rogers is, it's a nice easter egg-y kind of bonus.**

 **The other thing I thought I might point out is that this chapter focuses more on the boys than I had initially anticipated. Not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, honestly.**

 **Irrelevant side note: Today is my 23rd birthday. Happy birthday to me!**

 **As always, all reviews are incredibly appreciated!**

* * *

As the boys walked out of the recording studio, they were surprised to see all four of the girls sitting on one of the couches in the hallway, all huddled over Auden as she read a tween magazine. Raising an eyebrow, Kendall asked "What's with the gossip mag?"

Brooke looked up, as she answered "We're seeing which Big Time Rush boy is our soulmate."

At this, Carlos perked up. "Did the magazine say that we're soulmates?!"

Blonde curls shook as Brooke replied "I got Kendall."

"So did I." Callie replied from the other side of Auden.

"And my answer was Logan." Delia added.

With a shrug, Kendall let out a small "Huh. Weird."

Carlos shook his head "That can't be right!"

With a roll of her eyes, Callie explained "It's just one of those weird teen quizzes, they don't actually mean anything."

"With all due respect, Logan _is_ my soulmate." Delia argued "Platonically, anyway."

"Why are you guys taking this, anyway?" James questioned.

Brooke answered "We get our first teen magazine quiz in next month's issue of this magazine. We just wanted to see what sort of questions they'd be asking us."

"HELL YEAH!" Auden cried, throwing the magazine in her hand onto the floor "I got Carlos. Which means I didn't get Kendall or Logan, like you losers."

"HEY!" Kendall and Logan cried in unison.

James pouted "So no one's my soulmate?"

"Not according to this quiz." Callie responded blandly.

"That's no fair!" the tallest whined.

With a smirk, Auden offered "Hey, in a week you'll be able to take our quiz to see which one of us is your soulmate."

"Really?" Logan questioned, scrunching his nose up "Aren't these aimed at like little girls in a very heteronormative society?"

"Times are changing!" Callie reminded him "And tween magazines are gender neutral."

With a nod, Kendall supplied "She makes a good point."

"Is Gustavo making you give super specific answers again like on the Mary Hayes show?" Logan asked with a worrisome quirk of the eyebrow.

Auden's grin in that moment could truly be described as shiteating. "Gustavo is in New York for conferences. Brought Kelly with him. Apparently another big corporate shakeup is in the works."

"Is Karen leaving?" Carlos asked, wide eyed before admitting "I miss Griffin."

"Who's Griffin?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow.

With a shake of his head, Kendall replied "That's not important. What is important is figuring out what we should do now that Gustavo's out of town."

"Roque Records will be a hell of a lot easier to break into." Auden agreed.

Delia turned her head to her green-haired companion, eyes narrowing as she stated "We're not breaking in."

" _You're_ not breaking in…"

"Auden, can we not?" Callie asked, her tone authoritative.

"You know what we _should_ do, though?" James' voice had a mischievous undertone to it. "We should have a party."

An eyebrow raised, Delia was not the slightest bit amused as she questioned "Really?"

"No, no, he's got a point." Callie agreed. "Not like, a huge _party_ party or anything. Just the eight of us, like when we shot the Christmas video."

"Our interview is tomorrow, so it can't be tonight." Brooke reminded Callie, before turning to the boys and offering "Tomorrow night? After our magazine interview?"

With a nod, Kendall declared "Sounds like a pretty solid plan to me."

"I'm the only one who thinks this is a bad idea, then?" Delia questioned, entirely in shock.

With a pat of the shorter girl's head, Auden answered "Fraid so, cupcake. You don't have to get your drink on if you don't want to, but the rest of us are gonna have a good time."

With a snort, Kendall asked Auden "What, so you can black out again?"

"I heard _someone_ kept drunk dialing Brooke to make sure I wasn't dead, so if I were you I'd watch the smartass attitude." The green hair girl bit.

"Just no more Never Have I Ever" Logan pleaded "After you and Kendall blacked out somewhere things got…weird."

With a smirk, Auden replied "Logan, please, I am the queen of drinking games. I gotchu."

* * *

The tweeny magazine office was a lot more colorful than any of the girls had been expecting. A magenta wall connecting to a lime green one, which connected to a baby blue wall on the other side. A couch was coated in denim, and the girls felt oddly uneasy. "Are we sure this isn't a porn studio?" Auden whispered to the others, and got only a shrug from Brooke for an answer.

Suddenly a very skinny, very tan man with very curly hair all but sashayed over to the group "Welcome, welcome!" his voice rang out almost like a 1940s musical number. "I'm Roger, and it is an absolute pleasure to meet you ladies! Let's take a quick selfie for the twitter feed." The girls all smiled awkwardly as the springy young man snapped a picture. "Well no time for standing around and dillydallying! Let's get you into wardrobe!"

"Wardrobe?" Brooke repeated quizzically.

Hands flopping onto his knees with a wheeze as though the blonde's question had been the funniest joke he'd ever heard, Roger replied "For the photoshoot, of course! Gotta have pictures of you ladies featured for the quiz! And we'll probably release a poster or two in a future issue!"

"I suppose that makes sense…" Callie replied, a little uneasy.

An hour and three Gatorades each later, they sat on the denim covered couch in colors and fashions that didn't exactly line up with their usual looks. Brooke's hair had been braided and was currently sitting over a bright blue t-shirt dress which was paired with white and black striped leggings. Delia sat next to her, her long hair which was almost perpetually let down now up in a high ponytail, while the green flowy top she had on was cut off at the elbows, the soft material contrasting starkly to the leather leggings she had on underneath. Auden's green hair was out and curled and looked very vibrant against the black lace top she was in, which hung over a pair of red jeans. Sitting on the armrest on the far side of the couch was Callie, who felt both a little too warm and a little too cold in a navy blue jacket that was left open overtop of nothing but a grey bandeau until her matching grey pants.

Perched across from the girls on an orange spinning office chair was Roger, who began to explain "So this next part is as easy as feeding a dog who'd missed breakfast! I'm just going to read off some questions, and record each of your answers! Those are gonna be what shows up on your quiz and how your fans will get to know each of you!"

"Seems easy enough." Brooke replied, with a bright smile.

"Lovely! So let's get started, shall we?" he questioned, before flipping open his notebook and reading off "So, where did you meet your current crush?"

Immediately, and in perfect unison, all four girls replied "Roque Records."

Their eyes all went wide as they glanced at each other, before Delia finally offered "I suppose…my answer could just read 'at work' if that would suffice…"

"And I've met a lot of hot people at school, so…." Auden offered.

Callie then spoke up "And you've got to have the basic 'at the club' answer so that could be me."

"And Carlos and I really met at the park one day." Brooke admitted.

With an awkward smile, Roger simply muttered a small "Alright then." Before looking back down to his notes and bringing on the next question "And what is your dream date?"

"Rock concert." Auden replied automatically. "Like Aerosmith, Blink-182, or Lucy Stone."

"A nice dinner," Brooke supplied "Anywhere with good food."

"Something a little quirky, you know?" Callie began "Like mini golf, or to an aquarium."

"I want to be absolutely spoiled." Delia confessed. "I am a princess and deserved to be treated as one."

With a snort, Auden chirped "Straight guys won't do that, sweetie."

"Now now," Roger interrupted "There are no wrong answers here. I want to encourage openness, so long as it's rated PG. Now for the next question – what is your favorite flirting technique?"

Callie raised an eyebrow "Like which move do I like to use, or which move do I like used on me?"

"Remember you gotta keep it PG." Auden chided, lightly nudging Callie with her elbow.

"Either or!" Roger beamed gleefully. "Again, no right or wrong answers here!"

Brooke spoke first "I love it when someone can make me laugh. Having a good sense of humor is important."

Delia fidgeted with the edge of her top, eyes downcast as she cautiously attempted "I'm not entirely sure if this is PG or not…"

"There's no wrong answers, sweetie." Roger promised.

"Oral fixation. Not like, the actual psychological need to have things in your mouth, but when you use it as a flirting technique, like when you make eye contact and lick your lips, or slowly sucking a lollipop-"

Auden couldn't contain herself "DAMN Delia for a virgin you're into some kinky ass shit!"

"I'll just say blowing kisses…" Roger muttered to himself as he jotted some notes down on his notepad.

"Well I like a challenge." Auden replied, hoping to ease some of the new found uneasiness hanging in the air around them. "Best way to get my attention is to be like 'hey Auden I bet you can't eat more peanut butter than me!'"

"Isn't that…your entire relationship with Kendall?" Brooke asked with a slow raise of her eyebrow.

Raising a finger in the air, Auden screeched "Irrelevant!"

"I!" Callie shouted over the noise "Am a fan of light touches. Like touching a shoulder or something. Creating a light intimacy."

Roger nodded, and jotted some notes down quickly. "So next question…"

* * *

The rest of the interview had gone more or less as expected. Though Callie and Brooke both had that nagging thought in the back of their minds – who at Roque Records were the current crushes of Auden and Delia? Auden hadn't been romantically interested in anyone since either girl had met her, and Delia's penchant for falling for men who prefer men really narrowed down her pickings.

This thought was still buzzing around in both of their minds as Auden explained the first game. "Okay, so this game is called Most Likely. I wrote down a bunch of high school superlatives, and each turn I'll read one. Then we'll all point to the person we think is the most likely to do that thing. For each person that points at you, you gotta take a shot. So say six of you pointed at me and two of us pointed at Brooke, I would have six shoots and Brooke would have to take two."

"How can we be sure you didn't pick things specifically to get certain people drunk?" Logan asked suspiciously.

With a shrug, Auden confessed "I got em off of Google." As she reached out and plopped a very large bottle of tequila in the middle of the circle – not unlike when they played Never Have I Ever – she instructed "We'll play until the bottle runs out – first up – most likely to be president."

Auden, Delia, and James pointed at Logan; Callie, Carlos and Logan pointed at Kendall, and Brooke and Kendall pointed at Callie. With a small smile, Callie grinned at the two boys who'd also been pointed at as she cried "Bottoms up!"

As the drinks were downed, Auden picked up the next card she'd written "Most Likely to cheer you up."

Auden, Brooke, Kendall and James pointed at Carlos; Callie and Delia pointed at Brooke, and Carlos and Logan pointed to Kendall. As they all downed their shots, Callie mused "Five shots already, it's a good night to be Kendall."

"Most likely to crash on your couch." Auden read out.

While Auden pointed to James, and both Logan and Callie pointed to Kendall; Brooke, Delia, Kendall, Carlos and James all pointed to Auden. "YAS BITCH!" she cried as she lined up her five shots before downing them. "Wow, okay, Delia, you may need to start reading these off, shit. Okay. Most likely to get married first."

All fingers pointed to Brooke, except for her own finger which pointed to James. "Really?" the blonde questioned, as she lined up seven shots.

"I'm more surprised that you think I'm going to get married." James chuckled.

The game continued on like this until they did eventually run out of alcohol. "New game!" Auden cried, taking the now empty tequila bottle and laying it on it's side, still in the center of the room "One that doesn't need alcohol. Spin the bottle."

Immediately, Logan bit his lip in uncertainty "Are you sure this is a good idea, Auden? Some of us are in relationships."

"Yeah, and you're all in the same room." Kendall replied with a roll of his eyes "It won't mean anything."

Brooke turned to her boyfriend and asked "Are you okay with this?"

Carlos shrugged, but smiled "Only if we both agree it won't change anything."

The blonde smiled and nodded, before turning to the girl next to her. "What about you, Callie?"

"I'm down." The brunette replied nonchalantly.

Auden tilted her head to the side as she looked to Logan once again "Looks like you're the only one who's naysaying around here."

With an exasperated sigh Logan conceded "Fine."

"And for being such a good sport," Auden smiled cheekily. "You can go first."

Logan rolled his eyes, but decided to just spin the damn bottle and get it over with. And as the spinning of the bottle stopped, so did his heart, as it landed on the absolute last person in the room that he wanted to kiss.

Delia, it seemed, was unfazed by this turn of fate, as she moved to her knees and leaned closer to him, motioning for him to do the same. With a nervous gulp, his eyes darted to Auden once more "Do I really have to kiss her on the mouth?"

"Yes!" Auden replied, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And a real kiss, too! None of this pecking business!"

Logan looked to Callie in a last ditch attempt, but the brunette only offered "We already all agreed it wouldn't mean anything. Just kiss her and get it over with."

Another nervous gulp, and Logan went for it. It wasn't nearly as offputting as he would've initially thought. She tasted like peppermint, and it seemed as though she had very good oral hygiene. She was also very, very good at it. He wasn't sure why, but he had definitely expected her to be less skilled. In an odd way, it sort of reminded him of kissing Camille. Except he had feelings for Camille. He didn't have feelings for Delia. At least, he didn't think he did. Maybe he did? Maybe his feelings for Callie were just stronger? The new comparison was slowly terrifying him.

As they broke apart and moved to sit back down, Callie questioned "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Logan didn't answer, or even look at his girlfriend. He stayed silent, eyes never leaving Delia as she then spun the bottle, only moving from the redhead to see it had landed on Brooke. The blonde's eyes widened considerably as she admitted "I've…never kissed a girl before."

Auden shrugged. "It's easy. It's just like kissing a boy except their lips are softer and their faces are cleaner."

With a reassuring squeeze of his girlfriend's hand, Carlos promised "I really won't be jealous now."

That seemed to ease the tension a bit, as she leaned forward, kissing Delia softly. It only last ten seconds, but it was long enough for Auden to label it a 'real kiss', allowing Brooke to then take her turn, spinning the bottle.

With a deep breath, she let it spin, silently praying it landed on either her boyfriend or one of the other girls. When it fell on James, her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. The smile on his face looked incredibly sleezy to the blonde, as her skin felt as though it was crawling as he joked "I won't bite. Unless you want me to."

"Let's just get this over with." Brooke muttered, wanting for it to be over before it began. It was exactly as she was picturing, too, which made her dislike it even more. James was an incredibly sloppy kisser – very wet and kissing much too hard. She really, really, didn't like it. She pulled away after only eight seconds – shorter than her kiss with Delia, even.

He was still smirking as he took the bottle and spun it – though his eyes widened when it landed on Carlos. "Oh…kay…" James exhaled.

With an oblivious grin, Carlos chirped "Now you'll get to kiss both halves of Hollywood's cutest couple!"

James shuddered, but knew he had to man up and do it. After all, Brooke kissed Delia. If he didn't kiss Carlos, that would be a double standard. So he took a breath, and kissed his best friend. Carlos, he noticed, wasn't very good at kissing back. Brooke would have to work on that with him.

Settling back into their spots, Carlos then took his turn. He watched in anticipation, as the bottle finally stopped, pointing towards Brooke. He let out a sigh of relief, and gladly kissed his girlfriend. "GET A ROOM!" James cried.

Callie rolled her eyes "You're just jealous cause they both kissed you but they'd still rather kiss each other. Which only means _you_ are a bad kisser."

"I am not!" James cried, offended by the accusation.

As Brooke and Carlos broke apart, smiling giggling, Auden announced "So, Brooke, since you already had a turn, you now get to choose who gets to spin!"

"Callie?" she offered.

Callie shrugged "Why not?" before grabbing the bottle and giving it a good toss. She watched it go round and round until it landed on Kendall. With a quick inhale, she glanced at her boyfriend "Are you going to be okay with this?"

"Hmm? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." His voice was dazed and distant, and if Callie hadn't taken so many shots in the game before, she might have noticed how distracted Logan was, or that his eyes were still on Delia.

But, she was under the influence, and she didn't notice, and she got on her knees, kneeled forward and laid a wet one on Kendall, who was very enthusiastic in reciprocating. In fact, he definitely slipped her the tongue, which she took as her cue to pull away. With a sheepish grin, Kendall did offer her a genuine "sorry."

With a warm smile, Callie promised "It's okay." Before Kendall took his turn in spinning the bottle, having it land on Auden.

The greenhaired woman let out a dejected sigh of "of course" before getting onto her knees, beckoning Kendall over while blandly calling "Come 'mere, lover boy."

Kendall was more than happy to lean right into this kiss, his hand pressed firmly against the small of Auden's back to prevent her from falling back to far, while his other hand reached to comb through her hair.

Delia glanced at James briefly, commenting "They're the ones who need to get a room."

They continued to tangle in further into each other for the better part of 90 seconds before Auden eventually pulled away, patting Kendall on the top of the head as she stated "Well that's enough of that."

With a slight pout, Kendall returned to his seat, and Auden gave the bottle one final spin, sighing as it landed on Logan – who was still lost in his own head, attempting to sort out the whole Delia situation. "Well, better than nothing." Auden shrugged, before roughly grabbing Logan by the collar. Logan was only half there, which Auden definitely noticed. Breaking the kiss, she commented "Did you take a sleeping pill or something? That was hella drowsy bro."

Logan simply nodded, before voicing. "Sleep…sleep would be good."

* * *

Getting up the next morning wasn't as much of a task as Logan had assumed that it would be. Even if it was quarter to 11. The other three boys were already up, Kendall flipping through TV channels at random, and James and Carlos both eating some toast. "Morning sleeping beauty." Kendall smirked. "How's the old noodle today?"

"Not as bad as I thought." Logan admitted. "I don't know if it was all the sleep, or what, but I'm not even really hungover."

Still smirking Kendall asked "Really? Cause you seemed really out of it last night."

"It…may or may not have been the alcohol causing that effect." Logan admitted – though the confession itself was still very, very vague.

Mouth full of toast, Carlos questioned "Dude, what are you talking about?"

With a sigh, Logan asked "Do you think…it's possible…that Delia might have a crush on me?"

"Of course." Kendall smiled smugly "She thinks you're the cute one."

With a sigh and a shake of his head, Logan argued "I'm being serious. I want to know if this is all in my head or what."

"She did seem awful defensive about you being her real tween magazine soul mate…." Carlos offered.

Kendall then added "And she was weirdly defensive about being just friends on that talk show, too."

"Why does it matter, anyway?" James asked, mouth full of toast "Aren't you dating Callie?"

Logan sighed "Yeah, yeah, I am. And my feelings for Callie are stronger, but…"

"HOLD THE PHONE!" Kendall cried, giving his friend his full attention now, hands each resting firmly on Logan's shoulders "Do you have feelings for Delia?"

"I don't know!" Logan cried "I didn't! But then we kissed! And maybe I do!"

"But you're dating Callie." James reiterated.

Logan let out a frustrated sigh "Yes, James, I know that. And like I said, my feelings for Callie are stronger than…whatever that was, with Delia. But when I kiss Callie, it's all new and different. And it's a good different! But when I kissed Delia…it was like I was kissing Camille again."

"Maybe Delia's just a good kisser?" Carlos tried.

"But what if that's not it?" Logan asked "I was in love with Camille…until…you know…" his friends all nodded, all remembering the split very well. "What if that's what I felt kissing Delia? What if that tween magazine was right?"

With a nod, Kendall then spoke "Well, it seems to me like there's only one thing to do."

"Talk to Delia and Callie and try to logically discuss what happened and what my feelings are?" Logan tried.

"Nope!" Kendall cried. "Taking the girl's tween magazine quiz when it comes out next week to see if you and Delia really _are_ soulmates."

"So what am I supposed to do until then?" Logan asked, his voice dejected.

Kendall sighed, before offering "Act like it never happened. If it really is Delia you're meant to be with, you owe Callie to at least pretend like it was her until you know for sure."

"Are you sure it wasn't just the tequila shots?" James tried "I know alcohol has made me almost sleep with some girls who weren't even 8s."

"If it was the alcohol, then why did I feel it when I kissed Auden, hmm?" Logan bit back

Raising his hands up in defense, James yelped "Okay! Just trying to help!"

* * *

And for the next four days, Logan had, somehow, managed to act like nothing had changed. All he had to do was not hang out with Delia alone. And sure, blowing her off every time she asked was definitely starting to get to her, and yes, he could definitely tell that it was, but this was what was best for everyone!

Still, by day three, he was avoiding her all together. Less now due to potential romantic feelings, and due more to a horrible sense of guilt. So of course he was shocked when, at 4:30PM on day four, Delia, alongside Callie, Brooke, and Auden, were waiting for him, and the rest of Big Time Rush, as soon as they left the recording booth. "What's with the welcoming committee?" Kendall asked.

Brooke beamed, thrusting forward the new copy of that same tweeny magazine "We thought you might like to be the first to see which member of ABCD is your soulmate."

With excited, grabby hands, Carlos all but ripped the magazine from his girlfriend's hands, flipped the page to the quiz, and excitedly murmured the questions under his breath, before looking up, confessing "I got Callie."

"Me next! Me next!" James cried, taking it from the shortest member. After a few moments, he looked up at the girls with a puzzled expression. "Auden."

Kendall completed it next, and his reaction was perhaps the most smug as he revealed "Auden."

With a deep breath, Logan took it out of Kendall's hands, reading over every question carefully to determine he was fully understanding what he was being asked and what his options were. After taking much too long, he looked up, first to Kendall, then back to the girls. He inhaled slowly, before a light smile traced his lips "Brooke."

"See?" Kendall questioned "I told you it was all nonsense."

"Yeah." Logan smiled, a little too widely for the girl's understanding "I guess it was."

"Wait," Delia paused, before crying "None of you were compatible with me? Logan isn't my soulmate? I have no BTR soulmate? The other quiz LIED?"

"Finally! James cried, tilting his head back dramatically "Someone who understands my pain! Even if it was from a whole week ago!"


End file.
